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How we organise and govern in an economy designed for life

Illustrations by Terri Po

Beyond the Rules is an initiative that practices organising and governance for an economy designed for life. We are particularly interested in the deep, thoughtful and highly creative work required to rewrite, reinvent or reimagine rules, norms and laws that hold us in the current system.

Without ways of organising and governing that devolve agency and embrace interconnectivity, we don’t believe we have a pathway to a future of dignity, safety and joy. We think this means alternative governance capabilities and rules (read more here) to the current norm, via a boringly bureaucratic revolution that can underpin radical possibility.

Beyond the Rules exists to collaboratively and openly build operational structures, tools, practices, networks and crafts that can make this systemic governance possible in the everyday - this portal seeks to share & invite them widely.

<aside> 💡 Know what you’re looking for? Jump straight to the relevant portal below where you’ll find deep-dives into sense-making, materials, examples and resources:

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<aside> <img src="/icons/signature-document_green.svg" alt="/icons/signature-document_green.svg" width="40px" /> Employment Contracts →

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<aside> <img src="/icons/archive_green.svg" alt="/icons/archive_green.svg" width="40px" /> Funding & Partnership Agreements →

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<aside> <img src="/icons/cash_green.svg" alt="/icons/cash_green.svg" width="40px" /> Pay →

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<aside> <img src="/icons/timeline_green.svg" alt="/icons/timeline_green.svg" width="40px" /> Grantmaking practice →

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About Beyond the Rules

Beyond the Rules has been operating as an initiative since 2020. It started as a field of organisations, funders, places and networks that have been designing, practicing, learning and sharing what it means to organise and govern in systems for and in a better future. If you want to know more about exactly who we are, and what we have done so far there’s more information here - Who and What is Beyond the Rules?

During this time, the field of collaborators and contributors have focussed on what would be required to re-craft organising and governance practices within current structures towards a deep appreciation for our entanglement and civic agency. We call this Between the Rules.

The work spanned over two phases which included making sense of the challenges and possibilities through doing, alongside deep work into knotty areas including employment contracts, pay, funding and partnership agreements and grantmaking. Much of this work relates to how our current organisations and institutions can devolve agency and participate generatively in complex systems.

As we move into phase 3 of Beyond the Rules, we are zooming more into organising structures beyond the norm, although work from phase 1 and 2 will continue to be developed and refined.

This means we will practice organising and governance practices in emergent structures. We call this Beyond the Rules.

We will be asking ourselves, what kind of capabilities will enable us to organise and govern in ways that embrace the power of our entanglement and devolve agency? How can we start to nourish these together?

<aside> 💡 Join us and others - we are one group among many exploring this, part of a wider movement for deeply democratic and just ways of building the world around us.

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Illustrations by Terri Po

What do we mean by rules?

When we use the term ‘rules’ in this page, it can refer to various types of mental, cultural and structural rules that shape what we create. These might include (but aren’t limited to):

Cultural ‘deep codes’

e.g. imagined Self e.g. Homo Economicus, Selfish Gene, Human Kind, Modular Man

Language

e.g. English (noun orientated) verse Anishinaabemowin (80% verb based)

Social Imaginaries

e.g. norms, protocols, memes

Knowledge systems

e.g. libraries, universities, peer review, Scientific Method

Information systems

e.g. books, Internet, registries, organisational databases

Decision systems

e.g. Parliaments, Citizens’ Assemblies/Juries, Referendums, Company Boards

Commercial Models

e.g. value models, Financial models, instruments, production systems - interoperability standards, protocols, API, TCP

Ennoblement & Regulatory, Institutional systems

e.g. contract law, incentives, policies, articles of association

Codified rights and norms

e.g. human + non human + time, common law, human rights, property rights

Illustrations by Terri Po

<aside> <img src="/icons/circle-seven-eighths_orange.svg" alt="/icons/circle-seven-eighths_orange.svg" width="40px" /> Our aim is not to create a fixed definition of ‘rules’ but to use it as nod towards the underlying norms (fixed either in law/writing or fixed in our individual or collective imaginaries) in play.

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<aside> <img src="/icons/circle-six-eighths_orange.svg" alt="/icons/circle-six-eighths_orange.svg" width="40px" /> In phase 3-4 of Beyond the Rules we will be particularly looking at the ‘hard rules’ that shape how we organise and govern, such as those laid out (and under discovery) in this page.

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