From Governance to Consciousness: Reclaiming Participatory Agency Beyond Neoliberalism

This thesis argues that today’s ecological and social crises stem from governance built for control, not collaboration. Representative democracy and capitalism have fused into a system that concentrates power, hollows agency, and accelerates environmental collapse. The solution is not better policy, but deeper participation and a paradigm change. An interdisciplinary approach linking systems thinking, neuroscience, and democratic theory, shows that inner sustainability (agency, identity, meaning) and outer sustainability (ecological and social resilience) are inseparable. Through theory and citizen assembly case studies—from British Columbia and Ontario to Ireland, Ostbelgien, and France—it examines how participatory governance can restore both social and ecological balance by inculcating authentic agency. It defines governance as consciousness infrastructure: the collective capacity to sense, deliberate, and act together. The thesis concludes with an anti-model of governance—an open, adaptable framework for transitioning from representation to participation, from competition to collaboration, and from managing citizens to cultivating shared consciousness.

Author dc:creator

• Mishra, Richa

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Dale, Ann

• School of environment and sustainability

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Identifier URI

https://doi.org/10.25316/IR-20547

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:null:10613/28985