{"id":2481,"date":"2012-09-20T08:13:08","date_gmt":"2012-09-20T08:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/?p=2481"},"modified":"2012-09-20T08:13:08","modified_gmt":"2012-09-20T08:13:08","slug":"visions-of-the-anointed-or-civic-enterprise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/2012\/09\/20\/visions-of-the-anointed-or-civic-enterprise\/","title":{"rendered":"Visions of the Anointed or Civic Enterprise?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vision of the Anointed<\/a>\u00a0is the title of a book by Thomas Sowell, an American historian, economist and social commentator. \u00a0 The anointed are\u00a0usually\u00a0a small group of ‘professionals’ and ‘political leaders’, or ‘campaigners’ and their work frequently follows a well trodden path:<\/p>\n

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  1. They identify a crisis – a situation that, if not addressed,\u00a0will\u00a0lead to disaster<\/li>\n
  2. They propose policies and interventions to ‘solve’ the crisis that they\u00a0believe\u00a0will\u00a0lead to a positive set of results<\/li>\n
  3. The policies are implemented and the results are usually (always) mixed. \u00a0There will be both\u00a0benefits\u00a0and detriments associated with the implementation of policy<\/li>\n
  4. The anointed defend the success of their vision and the policies and impacts that sprung from it.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    We can see this dynamic playing out now with climate change, peak oil, low carbon economics, the benefits culture, anti social behaviour, drug misuse and so on.<\/p>\n

    This\u00a0archetype\u00a0for social change is based on an assumption that the problems of society\u00a0can\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>be identified by the anointed and\u00a0can\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>be\u00a0resolved by their vision. \u00a0Where does this leave the ‘unanointed’. \u00a0Those of us who aren’t involved in the\u00a0process\u00a0of identification of\u00a0problems\u00a0and\u00a0development\u00a0of vision? \u00a0Well we can adopt several positions. We can:<\/p>\n