Building Democracy for the 21st Century
- Insights
A Civic Business: Kowalski’s Markets and Democratic Principles at Work
Kowalski’s Markets has dedicated substantial resources in terms of time and money to send all of their leadership personnel through an in-depth training course on civic organizing and civic leadership. Kowalski’s has undertaken a new approach to policy making, based on democratic practices, which we use to solve business issues and meet our goals. Read More
How Citizens Use Politics to Act
Human beings are political by nature. Politics is what we do when we define problems and advance solution strategies. In the process, we follow, set, ignore, or break rules.
Politics is always grounded in a set of principles or values that justifies the need to take action and achieve our purpose. Read More
Many individuals and systems have chosen to disassociate with politics—some even openly speak out against politics. Even politicians say, “Oh, it’s just political” as if the process that defines their work is degrading. When I hear politicians say this, I think, would a teacher say, “Oh, that’s just education” referring to teaching as if it were evil. Read More
Why Tony Massengale and I Co-authored
the Civic Organizing FrameworkIn the realization that something is wrong with the very civic fabric of our society rather than simply the ethics of individuals or any one sector, Tony Massengale and I (with the help of many key partners) co-authored the Civic Organizing Framework. Read More
Are Islam and Democracy Compatible?
Even before we were introduced to civic organizing, we knew that Islamic values and customs are compatible with democratic principles. However, in the Muslim world, democracy is often associated with western governments and decades of western colonization which produced negative associations with democracy including the language surrounding its meaning. Read More
Like a lot of people, I used to think politics was just about government, elections, and politicians. The word conjured images of power brokers and back room deals and had little, if anything, to do with me. As a leader in the Minnesota Active Citizenship Initiative (MACI), my understanding of politics has deepened and changed, [read more] Read More
From What If to What’s Next in Public Policy
Just to make myself miserable, I’ll sometimes play the “what if” game. What if I could have known the recent recession was coming? What would I have done differently with my family’s resources, or the Citizens League’s? Ah, how the world would be different if I had only known. Minnesota is in the middle of its own financial “what if” game right now, except that…we know what’s coming. Read More
- Case Studies
A Kowalski’s vendor was having trouble keeping up with orders. Kowalski’s was experiencing frequent out of stocks, mislabeled product, and poor communications. Out of stocks lead to unhappy customers and, in the long run, lack of sales and sustainability for our company. Improper labeling could bring heavy fines from the FDA. Read More
Islamic Civic Society of America (ICSA)
Islamic Civic Society of America (ICSA) demonstrates the compatibility between Islamic and civic principles in a democratic society. Members of ICSA are dedicated to governing for the common good while addressing the specific needs of the Muslim community. ICSA is an institutional member of the Renewing the Public Congregation (RPC) demonstration of the Minnesota Active Citizenship Initiative. Read More