By Futurist Thomas Frey
Too many of the vital systems used to govern our world are left unchecked. Abuse of power is rampant in countries throughout the globe.
We talk about democracy, rule of law, and accountability. But in practice, most governmental, corporate, and institutional power operates with minimal oversight. Leaders make decisions affecting millions with no meaningful counterweight. Agencies regulate industries they’re supposed to oversee while being captured by those same industries. Courts enforce laws while being immune from the consequences of their errors.
Power accumulates. Checks erode. Balance disappears.
In a project that would propose to map systems against their associated checks-and-balance counterweights, we will begin to find a very revealing way of restructuring some of the world’s more egregious problem areas.
This isn’t abstract political theory. It’s practical systems analysis applied to governance: identify where power concentrates, measure what constrains it, and expose the gaps where abuse becomes inevitable.
Continue reading… “The Global Checks-and-Balance Project: Mapping Power Against Its Counterweights”