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The New World Alliance was an American political organization that sought to articulate and implement what it called "transformational" political ideas. It was organized in the late 1970s and dissolved in 1983. It has been described as the first U.S. national political organization of its type and as the first entity to articulate a comprehensive transformational political program. The Alliance maintained a national office two blocks from the
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
. It established chapters across the U.S., produced a 98-page political platform, conducted "Political Awareness Seminars" to help participants learn to communicate across ideological and psychological divides, initiated national "Consultations with Elected Officials," and produced a national political newsletter whose sponsors included '' Ecotopia'' author Ernest Callenbach and psychologist
Carl Rogers Carl Ransom Rogers (January 8, 1902 – February 4, 1987) was an American psychologist and among the founders of the humanistic approach (and client-centered approach) in psychology. Rogers is widely considered one of the founding fathers of ps ...
. Over the decades, social scientists and others have sought to explain why the Alliance did not achieve a longer life. There is no agreement. Explanations have touched on history (the U.S. was not ready), culture (the Alliance was too counter-cultural), process (the commitment to near-unanimous
consensus decision-making Consensus decision-making or consensus process (often abbreviated to ''consensus'') are group decision-making processes in which participants develop and decide on proposals with the aim, or requirement, of acceptance by all. The focus on e ...
was too onerous), leadership (the people on the Governing Council did not have the personalities or skills to build a mass organization), transformational political assumptions and behaviors (said to be inappropriate, self-defeating, or cult-like), and more. Following the dissolution of the organization, many former Governing Council members and other founders of the Alliance – many near the beginning of their careers – took transformational ideas into a variety of organizational settings, including the early U.S. Green Party movement and the multinational corporate world. Their organizational efforts and published political writings extended into the 21st century.


A "transformational" politics

After the political turmoil of the 1960s, many writers and activists began searching for a new political perspective that would give special weight to such topics as consciousness change, ecology, decentralization of power, and global cooperation. Some called the emerging new perspective "transformational."


Naming the Alliance's politics

The New World Alliance has been described by many terms other than transformational – among them,
new paradigm New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
, Aquarian Conspiracy,Bob Olson with Marilyn Saunders, interviewer,
The New World Alliance: Toward a Transformational Politics
," ''AHP Newsletter'', December 1980, pp. 14–16. A publication of the
Association for Humanistic Psychology The Association for Humanistic Psychology is a professional organization in the field of humanistic psychology, founded in 1963.Aanstoos, C. Serlin, I., & Greening, T. (2000). ''History of Division 32 (Humanistic Psychology) of the American Psychol ...
. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
New Age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars consi ...
-oriented,Alison Wells and Stanley Commons, "Moving Politics With Spirit (And Greyhound)," ''New Realities'' magazine, June–July 1979, pp. 23–25. The authors are identified as journal editor and executive director, respectively, of Self Determination, a California-wide organization advocating personal and political change. postliberal, post-socialist,Mark Satin, ''Radical Middle: The Politics We Need Now'', Westview Press and Basic Books, 2004, p. 29. . and
Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combi ...
.Sara Parkin, ''Green Parties: An International Guide'', Heretic Books Ltd., 1989, p. 294. . A libertarian magazine found the Alliance's newsletter to be "surprisingly libertarian," and a book about
radical centrism Radical centrism (also called the radical center, the radical centre or the radical middle) is a concept that arose in Western nations in the late 20th century. The '' radical'' in the term refers to a willingness on the part of most radical ce ...
characterized the Alliance as radical centrist.Satin, ''Radical'', pp. 187–88. However, "transformational" has been the term most frequently used to describe the Alliance's politics, both by political scientistsArthur Stein, ''Seeds of the Seventies: Values, Work, and Commitment in Post-Vietnam America'', University Press of New England, 1985, pp. 134–38. . The author is identified as a political scientist at
University of Rhode Island The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of the state of Rhode Isla ...
.
"Preface: Paths to Transformational Politics," in Stephen Woolpert, Christa Daryl Slaton, and Edward W. Schwerin, eds., ''Transformational Politics: Theory, Study, and Practice'', State University of New York Press, 1998, p. ix. . The lead editor is identified as a political scientist at
Saint Mary's College of California Saint Mary's College of California is a private Catholic college in Moraga, California. Established in 1863, it is affiliated with the Catholic Church and administered by the De La Salle Brothers. The college offers undergraduate and graduate ...
.
and by the Alliance itself. For example, an article from the Alliance's chairperson was entitled "The New World Alliance: Toward a Transformational Politics," and the Alliance's political platform is entitled "A Transformation Platform: The Dialogue Begins."


Describing the Alliance's politics

Many attempts have been made to describe the Alliance's approach to transformational politics. Cultural critic Annie Gottlieb interviewed an Alliance member who said its goal was "to embody a new holistic vision of politics in America."Annie Gottlieb, ''Do You Believe in Magic?: Bringing the Sixties Back Home'', Simon & Schuster, 1987, p. 153 (quoting Marc Sarkady). . Note that the pagination in the Times Books / Random House edition of this book is different. Futurists Jessica Lipnack and Jeffrey Stamps said the Alliance was attempting to introduce values into politics that had traditionally been outside it.Jessica Lipnack and Jeffrey Stamps, ''Networking: The First Report and Directory'', Doubleday, 1982, pp. 107–08. . British Green activist Sara Parkin named some of those values, including "healing," "rediscovery," and "spirituality." Scholar J. Gordon Melton and his colleagues focused on the Alliance's commitment to combining supposed opposites – left and right, personal and political.J. Gordon Melton, Jerome Clark, and Aidan A. Kelly, ''New Age Encyclopedia'', Gale Research, Inc., 1990, p. 324. ISSN 1047-2746. ISSN retrieved April 1, 2016. Citing the ancient Greek concept of
Paideia ''Paideia'' (also spelled ''paedeia'') ( /paɪˈdeɪə/; Greek: παιδεία, ''paideía'') referred to the rearing and education of the ideal member of the ancient Greek polis or state. These educational ideals later spread to the Greco-Roman ...
, Alliance chair Bob Olson told an interviewer that the Alliance wanted to build a society where every institution was geared to developing people's abilities and potentials. Political theorists
Corinne McLaughlin Corinne McLaughlin (1947 - 2018) was an American author and educator. She was executive director of The Center for Visionary Leadership and a Fellow of The World Business Academy and the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland. McLaughlin and her partner ...
and Gordon Davidson identified what they felt was a defining passage in one Alliance document:
Politics is the way we live our lives. It is not just running for office. It is the way we treat each other, as individuals, as groups, as government. It is the way we treat our environment. It is the way we treat ourselves.
Arthur Stein, a political scientist at
University of Rhode Island The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of the state of Rhode Isla ...
, pointed to another passage in an Alliance document:
The NWA seeks to break away from the old quarrels of "left against right" and help create a new consensus based on our heartfelt needs. It emphasizes personal growth – and nurturing others – rather than indiscriminate material growth. It advocates "human scale" institutions that function with human consideration and social responsibilities. It draws on the social movements of the recent past for new values like ecological responsibility, self-realization and planetary cooperation and sharing. It draws on our conservative heritage for values such as personal responsibility, self-reliance, thrift, neighborliness and community. It draws from the liberal traditions a commitment to human and civil rights, economic equity and social justice. We call this synthesis "New World" politics.
Author
Kirkpatrick Sale Kirkpatrick Sale (born June 27, 1937) is an American author who has written prolifically about political decentralism, environmentalism, luddism and technology. He has been described as having a "philosophy unified by decentralism" and as being " ...
observed that the Alliance's newsletter boiled its definition of transformational politics down to a phrase – "the reconceptualization of politics along human growth, decentralist, and world order lines."Kirkpatrick Sale, "Kirkpatrick Sale's Letter from America," '' Resurgence'' magazine, vol. 89, November–December 1981, p. 6. "As sorry a mouthful of rhetoric as that is," Sale concluded, "that's roughly what this 'transformational' idea is all about."


History


The organizing tour

Organizing for the Alliance began in 1978, when author Mark Satin embarked on a two-year tour of North America. Although the tour was initially designed to promote one of his books at conferences and other events, it quickly expanded into an effort to locate those who wanted to start a new political organization with a new political perspective. Satin told the authors of the book ''Networking'' that he traveled "systematically" to 24 cities and regions across the continent. He was especially interested in finding people committed enough to want to fill out an extensive questionnaire about the future organization. According to one magazine, by the summer of 1979 Satin had traveled over 50,000 miles, mostly by
Greyhound bus Greyhound Lines, Inc. (commonly known as simply Greyhound) operates the largest intercity bus service in North America, including Greyhound Mexico. It also operates charter bus services, Amtrak Thruway services, commuter bus services, and p ...
. He stopped when he found 500 people that were willing to answer the questionnaire.


The questionnaire

The questionnaire, when finally composed and sent out, came to 21 pages. One political science text later compared it to a Delphi survey. It consisted largely of multiple-choice questionsBelden Paulson, ''Odyssey of a Practical Visionary'', Thistlefield Books, 2009, pp. 500–03. . The author is identified as a political scientist at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. about what a transformation-oriented political organization should consist of. Some questions dealt with policy; for example, "How can we make small family farming more of an option for Americans?" Others dealt with structure – "How large should the Board of Directors be?" Of the 500 people the questionnaire was sent to, 350 responded. The author of the book ''Green Parties'' described the respondents as people involved in personal-growth work and social change. The editors of a book on transformational politics described them as "academics, policy experts, and political activists interested in this emerging political perspective." While it is not clear how closely the organization followed the questionnaire in shaping itself, one political scientist thought it significant that the "overwhelming source" of U.S. political problems among questionnaire-answerers was found to be "our attitudes and values."


"Governing Council"

The questionnaire determined that a 39-member board of directors, called the Governing Council (GC), should be chosen to run the Alliance. In addition, it determined that the GC should be chosen from among the questionnaire-answerers themselves. Eighty-nine of them volunteered to stand for the GC, and the first 39 GCers were chosen by a variety of means: 40% by mail ballot, 30% by lottery, 20% by Satin (who'd met the questionnaire-answerers during his bus tour), and 10% by four women. The selection process produced a diverse GC. A political scientist pointed to "teachers, feminists, think-tank members." A journalist called attention to a Ronald Reagan speechwriter, a former
Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, ...
speechwriter, a corporate vice-president, and a spiritual teacher.Ted Cox, "New Age People: Alternative to Militarism," ''The Churchman'', August–September 1980, p. 7. A spokesperson for the Alliance touted "a co-author of the
Pentagon Papers The ''Pentagon Papers'', officially titled ''Report of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Vietnam Task Force'', is a United States Department of Defense history of the United States' political and military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 ...
" as well as "several people from the erstwhile counterculture." In 1980, the 39 GC members included
Jim Benson James William Benson (April 3, 1945 – October 10, 2008) was an American aerospace entrepreneur who founded SpaceDev, a commercial satellite and satellite component development company, and the Benson Space Company, a civilian spaceflight ventur ...
,
Clement Bezold Clement Bezold is a political scientist, author, futurist and a founder of the Institute for Alternative Futures (IAF) as well as its for-profit subsidiary Alternative Futures Associates. Bezold received a Ph.D. in political science from the Univ ...
,
Lex Hixon Lex Hixon (1941–1995) (born Alexander Paul Hixon Junior, also known as Nur al-Anwar al-Jerrahi in the Sufi community) was an American Sufi author, poet, and spiritual teacher. He practiced and held membership in several religious traditions. H ...
, John McClaughry,
Corinne McLaughlin Corinne McLaughlin (1947 - 2018) was an American author and educator. She was executive director of The Center for Visionary Leadership and a Fellow of The World Business Academy and the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland. McLaughlin and her partner ...
,
Kirkpatrick Sale Kirkpatrick Sale (born June 27, 1937) is an American author who has written prolifically about political decentralism, environmentalism, luddism and technology. He has been described as having a "philosophy unified by decentralism" and as being " ...
, Mark Satin, Eric Utne, Robert Buxbaum of the Office of the New York City Council President, Jeff Cox of the
Rodale Institute Rodale Institute is a non-profit organization that supports research into organic farming. It was founded in Emmaus, Pennsylvania in 1947 by J. I. Rodale, an organic living entrepreneur. After J.I. Rodale died in 1971, his son Robert Rodale purc ...
, Leonard Duhl of
UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant uni ...
, Bethe Hagens of
Governors State University Governors State University (Governors State or GOVST) is a public university in University Park, Illinois. The campus is located south of Chicago, Illinois. GSU was founded in 1969. It is a public university offering degree programs at the und ...
, Miller Hudson of the Colorado legislature, Donald Keys of the
World Federalists The World Federalist Movement advocates strong democratic institutions adhering to the principles of subsidiarity, solidarity and democracy. The movement formed in the 1930s and 1940s by citizens groups concerned that the structure of the new ...
, James Ogilvy of
SRI International SRI International (SRI) is an American nonprofit scientific research institute and organization headquartered in Menlo Park, California. The trustees of Stanford University established SRI in 1946 as a center of innovation to support economic ...
, Bob Olson of the Office of Technology Assessment of the U.S. Congress, Gail Whitty of the NOW-Detroit board of directors, Malon Wilkus of the
Federation of Egalitarian Communities The Federation of Egalitarian Communities (FEC) is a group of egalitarian communitiesO'Brien, EllenSome communes have survived -- and prospered -- beyond the '60s.''Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service.'' 23 Sept. 1996. which have joined together wi ...
, and Rarihokwats, founder of ''Akwesasne Notes'' newspaper from the Mohawk Nation at Akwesasne."New World Alliance Governing Council, 1980–1981," in New World Alliance,
A Transformation Platform: The Dialogue Begins
', New World Alliance publication, 1981, p. 98. Booklet, no ISBN assigned.
Besides being on the GC, Olson served as chairperson of the Alliance.


Structure and process

The Governing Council met semi-annually.Marilyn Ferguson, "Foreword," in Mark Satin, ''New Options for America: The Second American Experiment Has Begun'', The Press at California State University, Fresno, 1991, p. xiii. . There was also a Coordinating Committee, and a national office was established two blocks from the
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
in Washington, D.C. But one of the Alliance's expressed goals was "a politics of participation," and the GC chose not to run the Alliance from the top down. The authors of the book ''Networking'' describe the organization as "nonhierarchically structured" and say decisions were made by decentralized committees. There were also local chapters. Belden Paulson, a political scientist at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, says that in the early years the Alliance had "a kind of missionary zeal" to establish local chapters across the U.S. He reports that 50 people turned up at the initial chapter meeting in Milwaukee and that the group met for several years. The Alliance's processes emphasized consensus and even meditation. An encyclopedia from
Gale Research Gale is a global provider of research and digital learning resources. The company is based in Farmington Hills, Michigan, west of Detroit. It has been a division of Cengage since 2007. The company, formerly known as Gale Research and the Gale Gro ...
reports that the Alliance expressed a "commitment to consensus building in all our groups and projects."Melton et al., ''Encyclopedia'', p. 324 (quoting the Alliance's newsletter). It also reports that Alliance chapters and projects claimed to use "short periods of silence n orderto draw on our intuition in making decisions and solving conflicts."


Projects

The Alliance sustained four principal projects.


Political platform

The Alliance produced a 98-page political platform that achieved what one commentator claimed was wide circulation. ''A Transformation Platform: The Dialogue Begins'' discussed crime and justice, economics, science and technology, health, the environment, global affairs, and more. It made about 300 specific policy proposals. But it sought to do more than provide good ideas. Bob Olson, chair of the Alliance, tried to explain to the
Association for Humanistic Psychology The Association for Humanistic Psychology is a professional organization in the field of humanistic psychology, founded in 1963.Aanstoos, C. Serlin, I., & Greening, T. (2000). ''History of Division 32 (Humanistic Psychology) of the American Psychol ...
why he felt the platform was unique:
... we call ta ''Living Platform''. The platform offers concrete political proposals, but doesn't purport to offer final answers. It includes commentary and dissenting opinion, and it asks readers to criticize it and help improve it, so that over the years ahead it can serve as a focus for thousands of people to cooperate in thinking through the changes we need to make.


"Political Awareness Seminars"

These were day-long or weekend experiences designed to make participants more deeply aware of the political process and their own potential for using it to heal society. To some observers, the seminars functioned primarily to build self-confidence. To Olson, they helped participants discover and merge their visions of a better society, and explore how to implement them. To the authors of ''Spiritual Politics'', the key part came when participants were asked to act out their feelings toward their political adversaries – and were then told to reverse roles. "Many deep insights resulted," the authors wrote, "with participants discovering
hey Hey or Hey! may refer to: Music * Hey (band), a Polish rock band Albums * ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014 * ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980 * ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the title s ...
often had problems similar to the ones they accused their adversaries of having."


"Consultations with Elected Officials"

These were national conferences of "transformation-oriented" politicians, Alliance GC members, and other interested parties. Political science professor Belden Paulson, who helped coordinate the first one, in Milwaukee, says he recruited California state legislator
John Vasconcellos John Bernard Vasconcellos Jr. (May 11, 1932 – May 24, 2014) was an American politician from California and member of the Democratic Party. He represented Silicon Valley as a member of the California State Assembly for 30 years and a Californ ...
and Colorado state legislator Miller Hudson to invite people to the weekend event and be speakers there. Sixteen elected officials ended up attending. There were also eight Alliance GC members, six academics, spiritual writer David Spangler, and some residents of
intentional communities An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, ...
. According to a letter Paulson quotes from one of the intentional-community residents, there was great tension at the consultation between pragmatists and visionaries – until the last day, when "it all came together, starting with the politicians who, one by one, spoke of how this opened whole new horizons for them."


National political newsletter

''Renewal'' newsletter attempted to report on current affairs from a transformational perspective. It also attempted to critically assess relevant groups and books and serve as a forum for activists. It boasted nine founding sponsors – Ernest Callenbach, Willis Harman, Hazel Henderson,
Karl Hess Karl Hess (born Carl Hess III; May 25, 1923 – April 22, 1994) was an American speechwriter and author. He was also a political philosopher, editor, welder, motorcycle racer, tax resister, and libertarian activist. His career included stints on ...
, Patricia Mische (co-author of ''Toward a Human World Order''),
Jeremy Rifkin Jeremy Rifkin (born January 26, 1945) is an American economic and social theorist, writer, public speaker, political advisor, and activist. Rifkin is the author of 23 books about the impact of scientific and technological changes on the economy, ...
, James Robertson,
Carl Rogers Carl Ransom Rogers (January 8, 1902 – February 4, 1987) was an American psychologist and among the founders of the humanistic approach (and client-centered approach) in psychology. Rogers is widely considered one of the founding fathers of ps ...
, and
John Vasconcellos John Bernard Vasconcellos Jr. (May 11, 1932 – May 24, 2014) was an American politician from California and member of the Democratic Party. He represented Silicon Valley as a member of the California State Assembly for 30 years and a Californ ...
. The newsletter's annual "Transformational Book Award" was voted upon by 70 hand-picked academics and
think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...
staffers from across the U.S.


Restructuring and dissolution

The Alliance restructured itself in 1982. It decided to close its Washington, D.C. office but keep the Governing Council intact. Rather than running and funding projects and supporting an organizational infrastructure, it would seek to serve as a kind of umbrella for entrepreneurial, independently run projects. It dissolved the next year.Mark Satin,
Miraculous Birth of the 'Ten Key Values' Statement
" ''Green Horizon'' magazine, vol. 9, issue no. 26, Fall–Winter 2012, p. 19. A publication co-edited by John Rensenbrink, co-founder of the U.S. Green Party. Retrieved April 26, 2016.


Assessments

The Alliance raised many hopes in transformational circles. For example, ''New Realities'', a glossy transformation-oriented magazine, devoted a 3,000-word article to the organizing effort, and futurist Hazel Henderson pointed her readers beyond the U.S. Citizens Party to the "more visionary" movement incorporating as the New World Alliance.Hazel Henderson, ''The Politics of the Solar Age: Alternatives to Economics'', Anchor Press / Doubleday, 1981, p. 19. . Arthur Stein noted that each of the founding sponsors of the Alliance's political newsletter had distinguished themselves in their fields. To some observers, including some inside the organization, the Alliance fell short of its promise and potential. It was certainly "short-lived," as three political scientists put it. To other observers, the Alliance was a valuable pioneer.


External critics

Some critics focused on history and culture. To political scientist Belden Paulson, the Alliance fell short partly because it was too far ahead of its cultural moment. To Annie Gottlieb, author of a book about the mainstreaming of Sixties-generation attitudes and values, the Alliance fell short because it did not sufficiently root itself in the mainstream culture, and in the immediately practical and viable. Other explanations focused on the Alliance's processes. Scholar J. Gordon Melton's encyclopedia said the focus on consensus led to "extended meetings and minimal results" – which in turn led to dispirited participants. Even ''Aquarian Conspiracy'' author Marilyn Ferguson commented that the GC meetings, full of "intoxicating rhetoric" but little else, took their toll on one GC member. Still other explanations focused on internal dysfunction. Belden Paulson noted ongoing "friction and personality struggles." He also found it incomprehensible that the Alliance always seemed to be without money. He finally concluded that the GCers with the most power were more interested in advancing their own organizations. Some critics were skeptical about, or hostile to, the Alliance's transformational ideology. Speaking on a panel with two Alliance GC members at an
Association for Humanistic Psychology The Association for Humanistic Psychology is a professional organization in the field of humanistic psychology, founded in 1963.Aanstoos, C. Serlin, I., & Greening, T. (2000). ''History of Division 32 (Humanistic Psychology) of the American Psychol ...
conference in 1982, political scientist Walter Truett Anderson rejected the concept of transformation. He argued that it had become a cliché and that society was not going to transform itself totally or quickly. He added that its advocates were on the verge of becoming "what I think can rightfully be called a cult." The Alliance generated opposition among conservative Christians who worried that
New Age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars consi ...
ideas were being spread under the banner of transformational politics. For example, in her book ''The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow'', attorney Constance Cumbey warned that New Age ideas were being "synergistically enhanced by the parallel operation of networking organizations such as New World Alliance."Constance E. Cumbey, ''The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow: The New Age Movement and Our Coming Age of Barbarism'', Huntington House, Inc., 1983, pp. 64–65. . In an anthology called ''The New Age Rage'', religious philosopher Douglas Groothuis said transformational initiatives like the Alliance were slipping New Age ideas into
U.S. Democratic Party The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States. Founded in 1828, it was predominantly built by Martin Van Buren, who assembled a wide cadre of politicians in every state behind war hero An ...
politics.Douglas Groothuis, "Politics: Building an International Platform," in Karen Hoyt and the Spiritual Counterfeits Project, eds., ''The New Age Rage'', Fleming H. Revell Company / Baker Publishing Group, 1987, pp. 97–98. .


Internal critics

Both before and after the Alliance dissolved, GC members publicly criticized the Alliance. In 1987, former GC member Marc Sarkady told an interviewer that the Alliance was too immersed in the
counter-culture A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Hou ...
. In 1983, writing in a feminist quarterly, GCer Berhe Hagens said that – despite all the high-minded rhetoric and processes – the male GCers had been dismissive of the female GCers.Bethe Hagens,
The Goddess in the New World Alliance
" ''The Creative Woman Quarterly'', vol. 6, no. 4, Fall 1983, p. 19. A publication of
Governors State University Governors State University (Governors State or GOVST) is a public university in University Park, Illinois. The campus is located south of Chicago, Illinois. GSU was founded in 1969. It is a public university offering degree programs at the und ...
. The author is identified as an anthropologist. Retrieved August 7, 2016.
In 1982, Mark Satin complained to an audience of 400 that the Alliance could not decide on its mission. Later that decade Satin referred to his former colleagues as "beautiful losers," and even in the 2000s he was writing about what he saw as the Alliance's "ineptness" and its failure to understand and seize the moment. A more systemic critique by a GC member was Michael Marien's essay "The Transformation as Sandbox Syndrome," published in the ''
Journal of Humanistic Psychology ''Journal of Humanistic Psychology'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes papers in the field of Psychology. The journal's editor is Sarah R. Kamens. It has been in publication since 1961 Powers, Robin. Counseling and Spirituality: A ...
'' in 1983. While Marien aimed his critique at transformational political organizations (and activists) in general, the introduction discusses Marien's involvement in just one such organization – the Alliance. His targets in the essay include mistaking lofty goals for political significance, loving-kindness for effective action, and good intentions for actual results. Toward the end of its existence, Alliance chair Bob Olson wrote – in a spirit of acceptance rather than blame – that the GC did not have the "personalities and skills" to create the kind of dynamic mass-membership organization that had originally been envisioned.


Positive views

Many observers have acknowledged the Alliance for what they see as pioneering contributions to the social change movement. For example, the director of Self Determination, a California-wide transformational political organization co-founded by
John Vasconcellos John Bernard Vasconcellos Jr. (May 11, 1932 – May 24, 2014) was an American politician from California and member of the Democratic Party. He represented Silicon Valley as a member of the California State Assembly for 30 years and a Californ ...
,Ferguson, ''Aquarian'', pp. 232–35. described the Alliance as "the first" national political organization of its kind. Political scientist Arthur Stein claimed it made "the first attempt to take ecological, decentralist, globalist, and human-growth ideas and translate them into a detailed, practical political platform." A pair of futurists credited the Alliance with attempting to create a national political movement based on new values. A pair of political theorists said the Alliance was one of the first groups attempting to create "a new synthesis" of
left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
and right-wing political ideas.McLaughlin, ''Spiritual'', p. 72–73. In a textbook, three political scientists identified the Alliance as a "precursor" of North American Greens.


Aftermath

Many initial Governing Council members and other founders of the Alliance – often at the early stages of their careers – engaged in transformation-oriented activities after the Alliance dissolved in 1983. Some of them contributed to transformational theory and practice for many decades. In 1984, at least nine people associated with the Alliance were among the 62 people in attendance at the invitation-only founding meeting of the U.S. Green Party movement in St. Paul, Minnesota. In addition, the Alliance's platform circulated there. One former GCer, Mark Satin, was later credited with helping to initiate that meeting, and in a scholarly book on the early U.S. Greens,
ecofeminist Ecofeminism is a branch of feminism and political ecology. Ecofeminist thinkers draw on the concept of gender to analyse the relationships between humans and the natural world. The term was coined by the French writer Françoise d'Eaubonne in h ...
author
Greta Gaard Greta Gaard is an ecofeminist writer, scholar, activist, and documentary filmmaker. Gaard's academic work in the realms of ecocriticism and ecocomposition is widely cited by scholars in the disciplines of composition and literary criticism. Her t ...
concluded that Satin "played a significant role in facilitating the articulation of Green political thought," and that his political philosophy influenced the Greens' "ideological foundation." Other former Alliance members helped organize other transformation-oriented political initiatives. For example, GC members
Corinne McLaughlin Corinne McLaughlin (1947 - 2018) was an American author and educator. She was executive director of The Center for Visionary Leadership and a Fellow of The World Business Academy and the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland. McLaughlin and her partner ...
and Stephen Woolpert helped develop the Ecological and Transformational Politics Section (section #26) of the American Political Science Association, Leonard Duhl helped initiate the Healthy Cities program at the
World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...
, and Alanna Hartzok co-founded the Earth Rights Institute. Some Alliance founders later ran for seats in the
U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washin ...
, though none won. In 1986, Joseph Simonetta – co-founder of an Alliance chapter – obtained the Democratic Party nomination for a House seat.Mark Satin,
Simonetta: The Heroes Are Us
" ''New Options Newsletter'', issue no. 29, June 30, 1986, pp. 3, 8. Retrieved March 25, 2016.
Six years later, former GC member John McClaughry obtained the Republican Party nomination for a Senate seat. In 2001, former GCer Alanna Hartzok obtained the
Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...
nomination for a House seat, and in 2014 she obtained the Democratic Party nomination for that same seat. Several Alliance founders later took transformational ideas into the multinational corporate world. James Ogilvy co-founded the Global Business Network to introduce futures thinking and
scenario planning Scenario planning, scenario thinking, scenario analysis, scenario prediction and the scenario method all describe a strategic planning method that some organizations use to make flexible long-term plans. It is in large part an adaptation and gener ...
to multinational corporations. Marc Sarkady became a global
management consultant Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultants ...
explicitly committed to "organizational transformation" and "visionary leadership"; one of his earliest challenges was trying to build teamwork among General Motors executives. Malon Wilkus, an intentional community activist while on the GC, eventually became head of American Capital Strategies and won praise in a book devoted to "creative inside reformers." Richard B. Perl founded an international investment company helping Japanese investors do environmentally friendly real estate development in the U.S.Dina Cheney,
Richard Perl '79: Saving the World, One Bonbon at a Time
. ''Columbia College Today'', January / February 2007, p. 63. A publication of
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
He also partnered with a French chocolate manufacturer.
Jim Benson James William Benson (April 3, 1945 – October 10, 2008) was an American aerospace entrepreneur who founded SpaceDev, a commercial satellite and satellite component development company, and the Benson Space Company, a civilian spaceflight ventur ...
founded innovative computer and space firms, including
SpaceDev SpaceDev, a part of the "Space Systems Business" of Sierra Nevada Corporation, is prominent for its spaceflight and microsatellite work. It designed and built components for the hybrid rocket motors for Paul Allen's Tier One suborbital SpaceS ...
.Patricia Sullivan,
Obituaries: James Benson; Inventor Led Computer, Space Firms
, ''The Washington Post'', October 16, 2008. Retrieved July 30, 2017.
Gordon Feller became director of "urban innovations" at
Cisco Systems Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, ...
, a multinational technology company.Kim Chandler McDonald, ''Flat World Navigation: Collaboration and Networking in the Global Digital Economy'', Kogan Page, 2015, p. xv. . One year after the Alliance dissolved, two former GC members launched transformation-oriented periodicals, Eric Utne with ''
Utne Reader ''Utne Reader'' (also known as ''Utne'') ( ) is a digital digest that collects and reprints articles on politics, culture, and the environment, generally from alternative media sources including journals, newsletters, weeklies, zines, music, and ...
''Dan Chu and Margaret Nelson,
Eric Utne Created the Impossible
" ''
People A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ...
'' magazine, vol. 34, no. 10, September 10, 1990, pp. 79, 81.
and Mark Satin with ''New Options Newsletter''. One futurist described ''New Options'' as a "successor" to the Alliance's newsletter. While these periodicals did not please some critics, such as conservative scholar George Weigel, others found them rewarding. Many Alliance founders wrote transformation-oriented political books after the Alliance dissolved. These addressed a variety of traditional and emerging subjects, including
intentional communities An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, ...
,
bioregionalism Bioregionalism is a philosophy that suggests that political, cultural, and economic systems are more sustainable and just if they are organized around naturally defined areas called bioregions, similar to ecoregions. Bioregions are defined t ...
, the interconnectedness of global issues, small-scale
participatory democracy Participatory democracy, participant democracy or participative democracy is a form of government in which citizens participate individually and directly in political decisions and policies that affect their lives, rather than through elected repr ...
,
social entrepreneurship Social entrepreneurship is an approach by individuals, groups, start-up companies or entrepreneurs, in which they develop, fund and implement solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues. This concept may be applied to a wide range of ...
, sustainable cities, environmental technologies,
radical centrism Radical centrism (also called the radical center, the radical centre or the radical middle) is a concept that arose in Western nations in the late 20th century. The '' radical'' in the term refers to a willingness on the part of most radical ce ...
,
land rights Land law is the form of law that deals with the rights to use, alienate, or exclude others from land. In many jurisdictions, these kinds of property are referred to as real estate or real property, as distinct from personal property. Land use a ...
,
transpartisan Transpartisan, or transpartisanship, represents an emerging paradigm of political thought which accepts the validity of truths across a range of political perspectives and seeks to synthesize them into an inclusive, pragmatic container beyond typi ...
ship, and spiritual politics. One former GCer became lead editor of an academic textbook on transformational politics. Some former GCers' transformational books were more personal. Bob Dunsmore wrote about being an activist for 40 years, James Ogilvy wrote about moving from goal-driven to soul-driven, Eric Utne exhorted readers to "Look Up, Look Out, Look In," and Norie Huddle wrote a book explaining transformational ideas to children and others entitled simply ''Butterfly''.Norie Huddle, ''Butterfly'', Huddle Books, 1990. Art by Charlene Madland. . A frontspage states, "a tiny tale of great transformation."


See also

*
Futures studies Futures studies, futures research, futurism or futurology is the systematic, interdisciplinary and holistic study of social and technological advancement, and other environmental trends, often for the purpose of exploring how people will l ...
*
Green politics Green politics, or ecopolitics, is a political ideology that aims to foster an ecologically sustainable society often, but not always, rooted in environmentalism, nonviolence, social justice and grassroots democracy. Wall 2010. p. 12-13. It b ...
*
Humanistic psychology Humanistic psychology is a psychological perspective that arose in the mid-20th century in answer to two theories: Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory and B. F. Skinner's behaviorism. Thus, Abraham Maslow established the need for a "third force ...
* Transformative social change


Notes


References


External links


Primary sources

*
A Different Kind of Political Organization
" c. 1980. Excerpts from the Alliance's introductory brochure. Retrieved April 26, 2016. *
A Transformation Platform: The Dialogue Begins
', 1st ed., January 1981. Booklet, no ISBN assigned. The introduction claims that the document was reviewed by the entire Governing Council, and that nearly 200 additional people contributed to the individual subject areas. Retrieved April 26, 2016. *
New World Alliance Update
" Selected articles about the Alliance's goals, projects, and strategies from the Alliance's political newsletter. Retrieved April 26, 2016. * Former Governing Council Members of the New World Alliance,

" ''Radical Middle Newsletter'', issue no. 114, January 2008. A quarter century after the Alliance dissolved, 15 former GC members attempted to assess it. The titles of some of their contributions convey the range of their views – "We Had It Down 30 Years Ago" (Bob Olson), "We Blew It" (Mark Satin), "We Chose the Comfort of the Armchair" (Alanna Hartzok), "We Weren't Willing to Play the Right Game" (Miller Hudson), "We Had an Unprofessional Attitude, Especially About Money" (Neal H. Hurwitz), "We May Have Been Too Personally / Psychologically Diverse" (Melvin Gurtov), "We Never Found a Leader" (John McClaughry), "Some of Us Weren't Ready" (Sarah James), "The Larger Polity Was Not Ready" (Richard B. Perl), "We Are Nodes of a Life-Giving Net Now" (Bethe Hagens). Retrieved April 1, 2016.
New World Alliance and New Options: Correspondence Files, 1977–1992
in th
Contemporary Culture Collection
at Temple University Libraries, Philadelphia. Includes hundreds of letters among Alliance members. Also contains the Alliance's founding documents, minutes of GC and regional meetings, and a complete set of ''Renewal'' newsletters. Retrieved April 1, 2016.


Other links

*
Special Issue: A Report on AHP's 12-Hour Political Party
" ''AHP Newsletter'', May 1980. Publication of the
Association for Humanistic Psychology The Association for Humanistic Psychology is a professional organization in the field of humanistic psychology, founded in 1963.Aanstoos, C. Serlin, I., & Greening, T. (2000). ''History of Division 32 (Humanistic Psychology) of the American Psychol ...
. GC member Mark Satin and four sponsors of the Alliance's newsletter were featured speakers at this event, and the ensuing manifesto by George Leonard, on pp. 5–7 of this issue, is an early and explicit statement of transformational politics. Retrieved April 1, 2016. * Donald Keys,
Planetary Citizenship: The Next Big Step
" ''AHP Newsletter'', December 1980, pp. 18–19. A publication of the
Association for Humanistic Psychology The Association for Humanistic Psychology is a professional organization in the field of humanistic psychology, founded in 1963.Aanstoos, C. Serlin, I., & Greening, T. (2000). ''History of Division 32 (Humanistic Psychology) of the American Psychol ...
. Prominent GC members Donald Keys and Martha Keys were co-directors of the Planetary Citizens organization, the subject of this article. * Frank Feather, ed.,
Through the '80s: Thinking Globally, Acting Locally
',
World Future Society The World Future Society (WFS), founded in 1966, is an international community of futurists and future thinkers. History Prominent members and contributors have included Ray Kurzweil, Peter Drucker, Carl Sagan, and Neil deGrasse Tyson N ...
(WFS) publication, 1980. . According to a WFS booklet ("First Global Conference on the Future," 1980, items #3111 and 3711), six GC members spoke at the 1980 WFS conference where these papers, many of them transformation-oriented, were presented. Retrieved April 1, 2016. {{DEFAULTSORT:New World Alliance 1979 establishments in the United States 1983 disestablishments in the United States American democracy activists Defunct American political movements Human Potential Movement New Age organizations Organizations established in 1979 Organizations disestablished in 1983 Political advocacy groups in the United States Social movement organizations