Rationale
Development is inherently connected to changes in the interactions among actors, as well as changes in actor access to resources.
In development strategies and initiatives one often makes assumptions on actors and the (possible) claims these actors have on resources. Baseline and blueprint descriptions of the current situation, the statutes, and of the change initiatives to which actors have committed, frequently occur.
As many actors participate, or have stakes, in concurrent and successive initiatives, much will be written about each actor, yet no initiative will provide and maintain a comprehensive and up-to-date description, and there will be no consensus description. Facts and views about the current situation, statutes and the (expected) impact of statutes and initiatives are usually presented with a filter that is biased by opinion:
- to underscore the opinion that government has too many powers, the claims of government agencies will be presented as if no checks and balances exist and as if officials act in a role of principal rather than in a role of agent;
- in weak democracies, the having of private ends in the public service easily coexists with the perception of unchecked and broad powers of government induced by a narrow discourse of lean government and deregulation, and by the poor attention given to the division of powers that comes with democratic institutions and social contracts.
Accountability in Democratic Arenas with Clear Claims
Because of their socio-systemic complexity and the multiple disciplines, events and shocks that have contributed to their emergence over several millennia, the democratic arena has become more complex than most people can cope with in their imagination. And few will have the luck of being able to experience its workings in more than only a few facets. Judges and some politicians, especially the senior ones, are privileged in this sense: for them the democratic arena has become a small world. Yet for 99,99% of the population of any country in the world, the democratic arena is a big world.
It is for those 99,99% that this actor atlas is intended.
Making a Big World Small, wiki page by wiki page
Sharing actor maps, statute books and initiative books allows stakeholders to express and refine facts and dependencies, such that a fair shared image of reality and of feasible change options may emerge. This in its turn will bring substantial benefits to development initiatives.
The functions of actors, the relationships among the actors, and the actors' claims on resources are governed by prevailing statutes (social contracts). This is briefly explained at Access, Claims and Contracts.
Atlas Contents
An actor atlas contains actor maps and books:
- an actor map listing the actors ;
- a statute book listing the statutes that express the institutionalized relationships among the actors;
- an initiative book listing the initiatives that actors have launched to improve their situation.
Both the maps and the books cover a territory or a sector (e.g. health care or transportation) within a territory.
For the actor map, and for both kinds of books, a more detailed description is provided, including the templates to describe actors, statutes and initiatives.
No matter in how many maps and books an actor occurs, there should be only one actor description in the atlas, and the same is pursued for statutes (contracts) and initiatives.
Actor Classifications
Actor classifications that are related to the actor's functions and claims differ per level (macro, meso, micro and pico1) , yet there are cross-level relationships.
The level-classification advocated in the actor atlas is justified in below pages:
In this atlas, the grouping of actors, primarily macro- and meso-level actors, is determined by their level and their geographic territory.
Most of the statutes and initiatives are related to macro and meso-level actors. The concerns of companies and citizens are typically represented by an interest or pressure group, which is a meso-level actor. Likewise, we consider the group of all rice farmers in a territory a meso-level actor. Yet the individual farmer is a pico-level actor. Also for micro-level actors the same rule applies: each bank operating in a country is a micro-level actor, yet the group of all banks, e.g., typically represented by a federation of banks, is a meso-level actor.
Territories
The geographic territory covered determines the scale of the map and the related statute and initiative books. For the UN system, the territory is the globe, for country maps and statutes it is the national territory, for regional maps, the territory could be determined by a river-basin or a continent. For local maps, the territorial boundary could be that of a municipality, city or province.2.
Macro maps and meso maps
A macro map may include all kinds of macro and meso-level actors. Yet in the modern society, such a map will become very extensive.
Therefore it is recommended to use meso-level maps for specific sectors, for instance health, education, transportation, etc.
Claims, Contracts and Agreements
Each actor will make a number of claims, such as sovereign rule over a territory, and it may enter into contracts or agreements with other actors, for instance to allow passage to citizens of a neigbouring country. Details at Access, Claims and Contracts.
The proliferation of claims and contracts may lead to a certain annoyance for the ruled persons. This is briefly explained in Scope of Claims.
The agreements information included in this (prototype) atlas is of two kinds:
- statutes as explained in statute book, and
- initiatives as explained in initiative book.
Because the focus is on macro and meso-level actors, most attention goes to statutes that are enacted within a country, a sector or a discipline, and treaties between countries. For ease of reference and structuring, treaties, conventions and charters are also included in a statute book.
How treaties and statutes matter to development is illustrated by the EU's Generalised System of Preferences. This is a trade arrangement through which the EU provides preferential access to the EU market to 176 developing countries and territories, in the form of reduced tariffs for their goods when entering the EU market. It is implemented by a Council Regulation applicable for a period of three years at a time.
Details are at: http://ec.europa.eu/trade/wider-agenda/development/generalised-system-of-preferences/index_en.htm
Atlas Maintenance
Many actor classifications will co-exist, and it may be difficult to classify each actor in existing classifications.
Also new classifications may be added as an economy or society develops.
For this reason, actor descriptions should be independent of their classifications.
This atlas' purpose is to be a prototype, to demonstrate a service concept in support of an effective sustainable development strategy.
Actor descriptions are included as initiatives and their social contexts (which actors are involved? what agreements do already exist among these actors?) are represented as systematized knowledge commons.
As the actor atlas service will be adopted by a growing user community, it will be important to enact formal maintenance procedures and comply to certain principles as explained at Global Agreement - Maintenance Procedures.
Disclaimer
In its current version, the actor atlas is offered as a prototype.
The main purpose is to illustrate the benefits of systematized content commons, as explained at http://www.pragmetaknowledgeclout.be/systematized
Therefore, the actor atlas does not aim to be complete regarding the identification and presentation of actors, their statutes and initiatives.
Inclusion Criteria
Actors, statutes and initiatives that are included play a role in some of the cases for which a content commons codification is being performed, as listed at http://www.pragmetaknowledgeclout.be/application-cases
For statutes and initiatives, only their "external properties" are included. These typically include the actors that are bound by the statutes, or contribute to, participate in and benefit from the initiatives.
Detailed coverage of their content should happen within the Constraint Dictionary for statutes, and within the Initiative Atlas for initiatives.
