Integral review is an “an online, peer-reviewed journal published twice annually. IR publishes a transdisciplinary and transcultural range of works that, taken as a whole, model integral ways of perceiving, thinking, researching, and serving the world we live in.” (http://integral-review.org/index.asp)

The current issue propose a french article on P2P written by Michel Bauwens, “le P2P, nouveau modèle de civilisation?” (P2P, toward a new civilisation model”. Here is the english summary :

“Peer to peer” is hypothesized as a new social formation with intersubjective dynamics characteristic of distributed networks. This is shown to have profound implications for the transformation of our current form of market economy. To demonstrate this, I initially will define P2P, and carefully distinguish it from other modes of production and governance such as reciprocity-based gift economies, markets etc..

Peer to peer dynamics are associated with a series of important processes: Peer production as a third mode of production, peer governance, and Universal common property regimes.

In order to examine characteristics of this new social dynamic, I use the intersubjective typology of the anthropologist Alan Page Fisque, who distinguishes:

1. leveling exchange (Equality Matching), the gift economy.

2. The relation of authority (Authority Ranking)such as it is expressed in the hierarchic mode.

3. The market (Market Pricing).

4. The common participation (Communal Shareholding).

In the end, I look into the possibilities of expansion for this new social formation,which holds great promise for a reform of our polity towards more participation.I conclude the article with an examination of the integrative nature of P2P.”

(from http://integral-review.org/current_issue/documents/Bauwens,%20Peer%20to%20Peer%202,%202006.pdf)Â