The Dueling Loops of the Political Powerplace: (the book)

Cracking the Mystery of Why Progressives Have Been Unable to Solve the Environmental Sustainability Problem

Here's the complete manuscript ^PDF to the normal edition. It runs about 200 pages. An earlier version (now very out of date) is available at Amazon.

If you want to see what the core of the book is about and save time, try the 7 page Introduction or the 29 page Dueling Loops paper.

For a peek at my personal ultimate dream, try the last chapter: The Tantalizing Potential of a Permanent Race to the Top, which runs just 13 pages.

The Dueling Loops of the Political Powerplace is a small book that can be read in a few pleasant evenings, though reflection on its message may take longer. Realistic examples from today's political world bring the Dueling Loops alive and into practical relevance.

This is the pre-publication book version of the Dueling Loops paper. The purpose of the pre-publication edition is to gather feedback from a wide spectrum of readers, so that we can make it a better book. Read it, ponder its message and how that message is presented, and tell us what you think.

The book contains about twice as much information about the Dueling Loops as the paper, including a third high leverage point not discussed in the paper. The book also takes the perspective that the sustainability problem is merely one of many typical problems that progressive activists around the world are working on, as seen in the book's subtitle.

Here is the overview of the book, from the back cover:

What might happen if environmentalists and other progressive activits could see exactly why they are encountering such strong change resistance?

Progressives around the world are stuck. Their most laudable goals, including environmental sustainability and peace, are not being achieved. In fact, progress has gone backwards recently, due to the ascendance of forces that seem beyond anyone’s control.

These forces are loosely labeled corporatism, neo-conservatism, and unilateralism, depending on which country is affected. They are deep, ominous forces whose corrupting impact is all too real and painful. But what is their cause?

Analysis shows the root cause lies in a fundamental structure called The Dueling Loops of the Political Powerplace, as shown on the front cover. Normally this is invisible. But now that it is revealed, it shows the reason progressives are stymied is because without realizing it, they have been pushing on an intuitively attractive but low leverage point. Pushing here will not overcome systemic change resistance.

There is, however, a way out. There are several high leverage points that have never been tried because they were invisible before. If progressives would unite and push on these points instead, the system would flip from a dominant race to the bottom to a dominant race to the top.

Such a radical mode change would have an equally radical effect. The system would now automatically attempt to solve any and all problems that stand in the way of optimizing the system for the common good of all, instead of the good of the few.

The book takes the reader through the analysis leading to these conclusions and many more. The end result is a whole new way of thwinking….

There is a discussion on the forum about the book. Here is the Word doc file in case you need it, such as for commented feedback or use in your own work.