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This chapter introduces and defines the terms ‘informal groups of states’, ‘groups of friends’, and ‘contact groups’. It develops a synergistic analytical framework, identifying the causal mechanisms that contribute to the formation of informal groups of states by borrowing from insights of theories of agency and delegation. It challenges the proposition that centralization and independence are key functional characteristics of international organizations which enhance efficiency. Instead, it argues that decentralization via informal groups of states allows the achievement of policy goals that would be unattainable in a centralized setting. The typology of exit, voice, and loyalty is incorporated into analytical framework to explain the dynamics between informal groups and the Security Council. Such an approach provides substantial explanatory leverage to explain the institutional effects of the Security Council under conditions of systemic change. The chapter concludes with an outline of the book’s contents.

This chapter focuses on making organizational changes in schools. It documents the significant challenges to making school-wide organizational changes in general as well as the unique obstacles to changing school discipline practices. It describes a five-stage strategic planning process designed to move from a traditional, punitive model of school discipline to a relationship-based model of discipline. This chapter concludes with several additional key points to consider in making significant systemic changes in schools.

The final chapter provides a general overview, in light of the findings of this study, of the manifestations and causes of systemic structural change in the history of western civilization. It argues that since the structural evolution of the western political system at large has consistently shown a path-dependent succession of unrepeatable stages, rather than variations on the underlying theme of the ‘state’, there can be no ‘grand theory’ of international relations or political systems in general: the search for nomothetic political theory, for timeless patterns in the historical record, is doomed to failure. Whatever their worth, present-day theory, such as Realism in International Relations, cannot validly invoke history as corroboration, nor offer predictions about the future.

First, this chapter summarizes the five narratives concerning collective bargaining and wage setting, intermediary organization, social policy, public finance, and corporate governance and then points out how these independent yet interrelated institutional settings have intersected in a number of points. The differences between the conditions in all five situations, both before and after the period, may be seen as less fundamental since collective bargaining in Germany is still more organized than in other countries, social welfare is still high in Germany, and there still are certain governing institutions that control most German companies. This chapter then explains why there is a need to understand systemic change and how shifting from a sectoral to a systemic perspective gives a new light to institutional analysis.

This chapter introduces fifteen diverse Protestant churches noted for their community outreach, in the context of their Philadelphia religious ecology. The 237 programs sponsored by these case study churches are analyzed based on definitions of the key terms “social action” and “evangelism”. Social action includes four basic categories: relief services, personal development, community development, and systemic change. While individualistic, immediate aid tends to predominate over structural approaches to social problems, the amount and type of social ministry to emerge at a given church defies easy prediction. Among the churches studied, a strong emphasis on evangelism does not necessarily preclude involvement in social concerns.

Unexpected introduction of social democratic policies, mainly in the form of systemic change, in Poland was caused by the foundations and actions of mass movements, the various events in relation to social class and Solidarity reforms from 1981 to 1989. These social democratic movements and actions have significantly distorted or perhaps, shifted the attitudes, perception of duties, expectations, and behaviours of employees. In addition, they not only encountered a gradual decrease in their standards of living, but also, they underwent chronic psychological distress, which affected their social relationships. Such effects are not what the people expected upon the conception of social democracy.

In this chapter, Iason Gabriel and Brian McElwee examine the status of interventions aimed at bringing about large-scale systemic change. According to Gabriel and McElwee, in the domain of global poverty, (i) philanthropic interventions favoured by effective altruists tend to take the form of “low-value/high-confidence” narrowly focused practical interventions, but (ii) it is quite likely that there are “medium-value/medium-confidence” interventions tackling global poverty via systemic change that are ex ante better. In other contexts, effective altruism definitely does take seriously “high-value/low-confidence” interventions (namely, efforts to mitigate extinction risk), so there does not seem to be any simple bias towards high confidence at work here. The explanation Gabriel and McElwee suggest lies in an understandable yet still misguided preference for political neutrality within the effective altruism movement.

This chapter explores the origins of the concept of sustainable consumption in global policy circles in the 1990s and its subsequent evolution in academia, business, civil society, and policy. It describes how academic research increasingly critiqued the understanding of consumption as an individual act and instead conceptualized it as a systemic issue deeply embedded in the economy, culture, and infrastructure, and how it is structured by life-event decisions like buying a house. It describes how the ecologically-inspired critique of consumption merged with the much older social critique of consumerism going back to Karl Marx, Thorstein Veblen, and the Frankfurt, School and discusses the emergence of alternatives and possible pathways to systemic change. The concept of sustainable consumption has influenced policies in the European Union, on the level of cities, and organizations like the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Since the Great Recession of 2008, the concept has acquired new meanings spurred by the economic crisis and, in the US, the demise of the “American Dream”. The chapter concludes by discussing the concept’s ambiguities and possible futures.

In this chapter, Stephanie Collins examines the idea that individuals can acquire ‘membership duties’ as a result of being members of a group that itself bears duties. In particular, powerful and wealthy states are duty-bearing groups, and their citizens have derivative membership duties (for example, to contribute to putting right wrongs that have been done in the past by the group in question, and to increase the extent to which the group fulfils its duties). In addition, she argues, individuals have duties to signal their willingness to coordinate with others so as to do more good than the sum of what each could do on their own. Putting these two things together, Collins suggests, individuals’ duties in (for instance) matters of global poverty might be largely driven by such group-based considerations, leaving little room for the duties that would follow from more individualistic reasoning.

The term “effective altruism” has no official definition, meaning that different authors will inevitably understand the term in different ways. Since this harbours the potential for considerable confusion, William MacAskill, one of the leaders of the effective altruism movement, has contributed a chapter aimed at forestalling some of these potential confusions. In this chapter, MacAskill first outlines a brief history of the effective altruism movement. He then proposes his preferred definition of “effective altruism”, aiming to capture the central activities and concerns of those most deeply involved in the movement. Finally, he replies to various common misconceptions about the movement. These include the views that effective altruism is just utilitarianism, that it is purely about poverty alleviation, that it is purely about donations, and that it in principle ignores possibilities for systemic change.

This chapter is concerned with the nature of curriculum change, and how it can be managed. In this chapter, the authors show that the management of change is a crucial aspect of curriculum reform, and they also identify some of the facilitators and barriers to effective change taking place at the level of the implemented curriculum.

States increasingly contest international institutions by “counter-institutionalization.” This comes in two forms. Counter-Institutionalization by Incumbent States (CMALL 4) means regime shifting and competitive regime creation. Incumbent states build and use parallel governance forums, especially when the dominant institution exercises authority on the basis of the “one-state, one-vote” principle. In that way, Western states insist on institutionalized inequality, asking for a global governance system that gives them a privileged role and allows for double standards. The costs of this strategy are significant. Rising powers also use the strategy of counter-institutionalization. They aim at changing existing, Western-biased institutions. Counter-Institutionalization by Rising Powers (CMALL 3) aims at voice—not at exit or loyalty. At the same time, there is an ongoing suspicion that stronger international institutions are instruments of Western dominance and help to prolong an unequal distribution of benefits. This tension leads to ambiguous responses, unified by the struggle against institutionalized inequality.

This chapter starts by analyzing key drivers and pressures that have led to the changing role of business in society. It then highlights four specific areas of change, i.e., the involvement of corporations in protecting human rights, their role in providing public goods, in engaging in public policy, and in furthering international development. From there a serious reconsideration of the nature of three elements is developed: corporate purpose, performance, and partnerships. The chapter concludes that the corporations of today will need to engage in a more fundamental, systemic change, and that this should form the basis for a re-imagining of capitalism.

This chapter explores Deloitte’s journey to transform performance management (PM). This effort—spanning 70 months of testing, piloting, and deployment—has resulted in a lean, rapid, and research-backed approach that fits the Deloitte environment of today. Against the backdrop of a successful and multifaceted global business, this case confronts some of the major questions around performance and development. It explores what really creates higher individual and team performance, how a “reinvented” model can be used to drive key talent processes like compensation and promotion, how an agile approach really works when driving change, where technology platforms are a help and where they are a hindrance, and the degree of data transparency that is needed to satiate employee demands in balance with organizational needs? The case details these questions in concept form and lists the actionable steps the firm took to drive successful adoption and positive outcomes.

This chapter is based on the stories of the author’s personal experiences in building three different institutions and programmes—the Indian School of Business (ISB), Ashoka University, and the Young India Fellowship (part of Ashoka University). The author argues that instead of driving systemic change through policy advocacy or large-scale capacity building, efforts can also be directed towards the building of new institutions that address an unmet need and an unsolved problem in our country, and that aspire to be the best in the world from the word go.