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There is certainly empirical evidence of this in the way societies behave. Every
dictatorship in the world is an example of a society exhibiting learned helplessness,
from Nazi Germany to the current regime in North Korea, citizens have all but
accepted they have no control over their environment- and become passive (and hence
open to manipulation and control). How else could Hitler, for example, pass
legislation through an otherwise rational population for the eradication of all Jews
from civil society?
In contrast to this, the effect on society when people realise they do have control is
profound. "Protests following the 2009 Iranian presidential election against the
disputed victory of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and in support of
opposition candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi occurred in major cities in Iran and
around the world starting June 13, 2009. The protests were given several titles by
their proponents including Green Revolution, Green Wave or Sea of Green, reflecting
presidential candidate Mousavi's campaign color, and also Persian Awakening. The
events have also been nicknamed the "Twitter Revolution" because of the protesters'
reliance on Twitter and other social-networking Internet sites to communicate with
each other.". In this case, the population- through tools such as Twitter, realised they
did have a choice, did have a voice- and were able to escape this malleable,
depressive state, and try to create change. Similar examples can be found throughout
history including the 2007 anti-government protests in Burma.
Even in our own developed democratic economies, we see very similar behaviours.
As much as we know that we have a notional say in our governance through voting
and other means- the fact remains that the majority of voters in the UK, Europe and
the USA feel a sense of disconnect between themselves and their political and
economic environments. As Seligman identified, "...fundamental sense of well-being
crucially depends on our having the ability to exert control over our environment and
recognising that we do" so when a voter or economic participant feels they have no
control over their environment (be it because of a recession, policies they disagree
with, decisions made outside their gaze, and so forth) they tend to play a more passive
role in their polis or economy as a result.
Academically, this sentiment also holds true. In a 2005 paper entitled, "The political
economy of freedom, democracy and terrorism" by Kurrild-Klitgaard, Justesen and
Klemmensen of the University of Southern Denmark, the researchers identified that,
"other components of liberal democracy—civil liberties, rule of law and free
markets—may play a larger role as long-term deterrents than simply having free
elections. In contrast, the good news is that if the country goes all the way to a more
complete liberal democracy, then it is likely to significantly decrease terrorism and
political violence."
For those wishing for paradigm from the corporate world- we can see how
organisations who genuinely give their employees the knowledge and ability to exert
control over their employers strategy do extremely well (Google and Apple to name
just two) with many others such as IBM- who operate a far less empowered
governance methodology- simply unable to replicate the growth, innovation, and
agility of their empowered counterparts.
The underlying lesson here for our political, economic and corporate leaders is rather
simple. Saying people have the ability to participate in decisions, and actually
ensuring they can, should not (as the case often is) be mutually exclusive. Our
nations, economies and companies can perform far better where we genuinely allow
and encourage participation in governance and policy from all stakeholders.