Foundations, Principles — an Inspirational Resources of Integral Politics

Book excerpt: This book makes the point for a paradigm shift in politics based on an integral consciousness. Why? Politics as we know it is outdated. It lacks the tools, the operating system and the vision to address the challenges humanity is facing at the necessary speed and with the right priorities today. It seems that its very "operating system", consisting of core assumptions about the world, motivational drivers, typical behaviors and instruments for decision-making and problem-solving as they have evolved from the early days of European parliamentarism, is no longer fit for purpose. While global mega-challenges call for cross-cutting cooperation and collective intelligence, our party systems continue to reward silo thinking, zero-sum competition and short-time, linear planning. So if politics as usual is outdated, what's the alternative? In view of reinventing politics by upgrading its operating system towards "integral", this book presents the most important inspirational thinkers that have started to identify and describe the essence and implications of integral consciousness over the last hundred years. It harvests insights and learnings proposed by ten thought leaders and approaches, from Sri Aurobindo to Ken Wilber until Quantum Social Science. On this basis, it spells out the foundations, resources and core principles of an integral paradigm of understanding – and doing politics. Mapping out its added value as compared to the politics we know is a powerful invitation to rediscover our own agency and to actively engage in putting integral politics into practice.