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Boundary‐spanning dialogue for the 21st‐century agoras
Author(s) -
Christakis Alexander N.,
Brahms Sabrina
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
systems research and behavioral science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.371
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1099-1743
pISSN - 1092-7026
DOI - 10.1002/sres.508
Subject(s) - humanity , context (archaeology) , idealization , boundary spanning , boundary (topology) , sociology , government (linguistics) , multiculturalism , globalization , political science , environmental ethics , public relations , law , history , computer science , knowledge management , pedagogy , physics , mathematical analysis , linguistics , philosophy , mathematics , archaeology , quantum mechanics
The paper identifies the critical role dialogue must play in constructing and sustaining the 21st‐century agoras in the context of the Global Village. Recognizing that the trends towards globalization are irreversible, it describes a boundary‐spanning dialogue approach (BDA) as the necessary, but not sufficient, foundation for enabling human beings to conceptualize and materialize the idealization of ‘conscious evolution of humanity’. The approach to BDA described in the paper is based on over 30 years of research, development and testing in the social systems design arena. Many stories from the design arena are available and documented. A major challenge for the agoras of the 21st century will be their capacity to engage multilingual, multicultural and geographically dispersed stakeholders in a boundary‐spanning dialogue among civilizations in the context of the Global Village. Two stories from past applications of BDA in the social systems design arena are presented in this paper. The first story discusses a project in Washington, DC involving Native American leaders and Federal Government executives, in the late 1980s. The second story focuses on a peace‐building workshop between Israelis and Palestinians that was facilitated by members of the bi‐communal Cypriot community. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.