Share this page!

Enter URL or ID to Unroll

You can paste full URL like: https://x.com/threadreaderapp/status/1644127596119195649
or just the ID like: 1644127596119195649

How to get URL link on X (Twitter) App

  1. On the Twitter thread, click on or icon on the bottom
  2. Click again on or Share Via icon
  3. Click on Copy Link to Tweet
  4. Paste it above and click "Unroll Thread"!
  5. More info at Twitter Help
Jon Alexander Profile picture
@jonjalex
Aug 11, 2020 • 4 tweets • 1 min read • Read on X
We @NewCitProj always prefer talking about questions than visions

A vision is a kind of answer, so there’s only one

A question can have many answers

More creative in that sense...
Suggested structure

How can we

Together with X (people we want to be participants with us)

Achieve Y (outcome/impact we want to have)?
As an exercise, generating another form of question - What If questions, copyright @robintransition - can be v helpful

Then you can draw out from the commonalities of those the more strategic “How can we...” question
Hope helpful!

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Jon Alexander

Jon Alexander Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @jonjalex

Jon Alexander Profile picture
Jul 19
“To give no trust is to get no trust”
💡💡💡💡💡💡💡

Want to know how the Taiwanese government drew on ancient wisdom to increase trust levels from below 10% in 2015 to nearly 70% this year?

TLDR: they chose actively to trust - and therefore INVOLVE - the Taiwanese people.

🧵
At the heart of the story is @audreyt, whom I hosted in London this week.

Her deep understanding of trust has been at the heart of Taiwan’s whole approach to government, as a Cabinet Minister from 2016. Audrey Tang and Jon Alexander stand together smiling, holding copies of each other’s books (titled Plurality and Citizens)
Audrey read Lao Tzu and the Tao Te Ching as a young child(!). This quote took hold.

She dropped out of junior high to research “swift trust” - how trust seems both to come and to go more easily in online environments - with researchers at Stanford and other US universities. Photo of Ursula Le Guin translation of Tao Te Ching True leaders are hardly known to their followers. Next after them are the leaders the people know and admire; after them, those they fear; after them, those they despise. To give no trust is to get no trust. When the work’s done right, with no fuss or boasting, ordinary people say, Oh, we did it.
Read 12 tweets
Jon Alexander Profile picture
May 15
NEW from us @NewCitProj

With big questions piling up and trust in decline, we reckon we need a framework for making big decisions WITH people, not FOR them

We call it RAPID Democracy…

Read on for an intro 🧵 or check out the full report

newcitizenproject.com/rapid
Image
Here’s a v quick overview - it’s basically about separating out a democratic decision into phases - so you can then figure out HOW to invite WHOM to participate in each

The idea is to make the most of all the different tools and approaches Image
Let’s take those one by one

INPUT is really filling the funnel with ideas from everywhere

Making sure everyone who has a stake in a decision can express their view

Not every view will be incorporated - but they can all be heard Image
Read 15 tweets
Jon Alexander Profile picture
Mar 6
NEW

Circular Power Politics: A Politician's Guide To Five Opportunities To Lead With And For The People

Very excited to put this out into the world today - the key output of a year of work with @OmezzineKel @lisamwitter @ApoliticalFound

Link and summary in 🧵 Cover page of new Apolitical Foundation report "Circular Power Politics"
Why did we do the work? (1)

Because existing "linear" politics - where people vote for politicians then leave them to it - isn't working for ANYONE

People are feeling left out, and the good politicians we do still have are coming under unsustainable pressure

BUT... Image of linear political systems where citizen elect politicians who then go and do democracy for them
Why did we do the work? (2)

...It's also true that new ways of doing democracy are emerging all over the world

These represent a shift to what we call "circular power politics" - where politicians build positive power by working WITH citizens, not just FOR them Depiction of "circular power politics" where citizens' power is in a reinforcing cycle with politicians' power, and democracy improves as a result
Read 8 tweets
Jon Alexander Profile picture
Mar 23, 2023
Today - on a day when we arguably couldn't be any more in need of a different vision for how UK politics could be - THIS is launching

It matters for UK nature, but it might be even more significant for UK politics

Here's a bit of the back story 🧵

peoplesplanfornature.org
Around the time I finished writing the first edition of CITIZENS, @reenwilson and I were presented with an opportunity by @HelenMeech, a friend and former @NewCitProj colleague now working for @Natures_Voice...
Sir David Attenborough was in the process of filming what might well be his final ever documentary series, Wild Isles...

Even in the hectic media landscape of today, an Attenborough series always creates a cultural moment.
Read 18 tweets
Jon Alexander Profile picture
Oct 3, 2022
This is the central dynamic of our times, and it must be broken

Here's how it works, and how to break it 🧵 Diagram showing a reinforcing vicious cycle between two thin
We talk a LOT about people not trusting institutions (politics, business, even NGOs/nonprofits)

But we don't talk enough about INSTITUTIONS NOT TRUSTING PEOPLE

And they don't

The implicit assumption is people are selfish and lazy, so institutions need to do stuff FOR us
That *kind of* works when things are going ok for most people

But when they're going badly, what humans need most is AGENCY

We need to be able to shape the context of our own lives

And institutions doing stuff FOR us stops that

They decide FOR us

They withhold power FROM us
Read 10 tweets
Jon Alexander Profile picture
Sep 30, 2022
What if we Brits responded to our ridiculous government not (just) with anger, but by stepping into a much deeper, richer way of doing democracy?

Oh look… 👀

peoplesplanfornature.org
The big UK nature NGOs are coming together to crowdsource a “People’s Plan For Nature” - starting by gathering stories and ideas from all over the country and then using a randomly selected citizens’ assembly to digest all that, hear from experts, and produce recommendations
These recs will cover not just “asks” of national government, but of councils and business too - and also crucially what community groups can just get on and do
Read 5 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

Send Email!

:(