Unity for effective governance

With growing global interdependence, different social organisations are proving anachronistic. Attempts to advance human prosperity and well-being can no longer ignore this reality. To progress, we need to harmonise and coordinate our activities on local, national and global levels. To be effective, approaches to governance at all levels will need to be informed by the principle of the oneness of humanity. That humanity constitutes a single people, with shared interests and aspirations, appears deceptively simple, yet it constitutes a fundamental challenge to inherited assumptions and practices in the field of governance.

Much like the human body, the increasingly interdependent body of humanity is composed of diverse elements whose well-being can only be achieved through integration and coordination. No cell or organ lives apart from the human body, and the well-being of each cell derives from the well-being of the whole. At the same time, it is the unity and interdependence of the body's diverse cells and organs that permits the full realisation of the distinctive capacities inherent in each. The organic unity that is implied by this analogy has profound implications for the structures and processes of governance within communities at all levels.

These implications can be appreciated by considering the function of power in human affairs. Governance has frequently been characterised by self-interested and competitive expressions of power. Such expressions may have served only specific groups. But these are discordant under conditions of heightened social and ecological interdependence, in which the welfare of every individual and group is dependent on the welfare of the entire social body. These conditions call for the development of new modes of governance at all levels, embodying the unifying and mutualistic exercise of power.

The oneness of humanity, and the mutualistic exercise of power that is associated with this principle, have profound implications for governance. Take gender equality. Even though the well-being of women and men is inseparably linked, women worldwide continue to be excluded from significant decision-making processes within the home, local communities and in national and international arenas. Exclusion leads to marginalisation of half the population in many decision-making processes. For communities to advance and prosper, gender equity is necessary.

Inclusion of women in governance is thus an essential expression of the principle of oneness. This principle applies to the full range of human diversity. Therefore, unity does not imply uniformity within a social body. On the contrary, it is the diversity of the component parts of an organic body that permits the full realisation of its collective capacity. Within human societies, diversity is a source of collective capacity, creativity, productivity, resilience, innovation and adaptation. Only when diverse segments of human society contribute equally to the governance of human affairs, within a unified and coordinated framework, will real prosperity and well-being be achieved.

What are the practical implications of these principles and insights for the structure and selection of leadership and authority in systems of governance - and for process of collective decision-making and implementation, and for reflective learning from implementation? And what are the practical implications for the training and education of citizens and public servants, which will be needed to support such structures and processes? Contributed by the Baha'i department of external affairs on the occasion of the birth anniversary of the Bab, the Prophet-herald of the Baha'i faith