Dale Carrico’s previous comments have inspired me to put to writing a number of thesis concerning a specific p2p-approach to the state:

Some general remarks about a p2p-approach to the state:

Michel Bauwens, 14/10/2006:

–Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â The state has existed since the dawn of civilization and the class society, and is inevitable in a condition of inequality and plurarity

–Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â The democratic state is not only an expression of the interest of the ruling strata, but reflects the balance of forces that have imposed democracy and social welfare (and the amount of integration of the interests of the popular majorities reflect the ebb and flow of the interests of the latter; neoliberalism has deeply changed that balance to the detriment of the larger population, and neoconservatism would do it even more

–Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â If the state exists and is inevitable for a long time to come, it might as well be used to support the majority of the population rather than be an instrument of corporate welfare; however such usage must be subsidiary to the possibilities of autonomous and distributed functioning of civil society, to which the state can play the role of enabler; rather than be an agent of corporate welfare and privilege; the state must be at least a neutral arbiter between the market and civil society related commons; and preferable must be the supporter of the latter.

–Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â The centralized modes of operation that have been historically been associated with the state, and especially with the alternative Soviet model, are most of the time no longer appropriate for the running of public affairs; decentralization and distribution of state functions must be attempted, and these are not to be confounded with market-based privatization. Alternative commons-based models, such as the trust-based management of public resources, must be attempted.

–Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â The sphere of autonomous production, participation and self-government must be extended, in line with the possibilities inherent in the peer production and peer government model. Such autonomous governance can exist everywhere where more egalitarian distributed network models, based on a priori consensus of common goals, have proven to be viable.

–Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â As society is not a distributed network based on such a priori consensus, but a decentralized play of competing groups with varying interests and convictions, it is unlikely that the representative model can be completely superseded; but the current format of representative democracy is in a deep crisis, and has become beholden to corporate interests; so it must be profoundly reformed and augmented by multiple forms of peer-informed, partnership-based multi-stakeholder governance; and exist within a sphere that is dominated by peer governance of an increasingly autonomous civil society.