The New Systems Reader

The recognition is growing: truly addressing the problems of the 21st century requires going beyond small tweaks and modest reforms to business as usual―it requires "changing the system." But what does this mean? And what would it entail? The New Systems Reader highlights some of the most thoughtful, substantive, and promising answers to these questions, drawing on the work and ideas of some of the world’s key thinkers and activists on systemic change. Amid the failure of traditional politics and policies to address our fundamental challenges, an increasing number of thoughtful proposals and real-world models suggest new possibilities, this book convenes an essential conversation about the future we want.

James Gustave Speth is senior fellow and co-chair of the The Next System Project at The Democracy Collaborative. Formerly dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, and chair of the UN Development Group, he served as a senior adviser on environmental issues to Presidents Carter and Clinton. He is the author, co-author, or editor of seven books including America the Possible: Manifesto for a New Economy (2012); and most recently, the 2014 memoir Angels by the River, which traces his path from mainstream environmental insider to a champion of fundamental systemic change in our political and economic institutions.

Kathleen Courrier retired in 2016 from her position as vice president of communications at the American Institutes for Research. Before that, she was vice president of communications at the Urban Institute in Washington for 14 years, publications director at World Resources Institute from its inception, communications head and then acting director of the Center for Renewable Resources, a writer/editor for the Academy for Educational Development, and a freelance writer/editor. She is past president of Washington Book Publishers and a former book columnist for SIERRA magazine. Her articles and reviews have appeared in The Washington Post, Columbia Journalism Review, Issues in Science and Technology, Los Angeles Times, and MIT's Technology Review.