How to Change the World (Citizens)
According to "Citizens - the key to fixing everything is all of us" by John Alexander and Ariane Conrad
Citizens starts from a powerful truth: the institutions that govern our world are struggling to meet the challenges we see today. John Alexander and Ariane Conrad argue that two dominant narratives currently shape the global systems that shape our lives:
From China — the Subject State, where authoritarian government relies on obedience, strict hierarchies, and deep surveillance.
From Siliconia — the Consumer State, where powerful corporations, particularly tech giants, reduce our role to passive buyers, limiting choice and deepening surveillance.
They argue that neither the Subject State nor the Consumer State offers a credible path to a sustainable, equitable, and joyful future. And I find it hard to disagree!
Citizens makes the case for a third option: the Citizen State. A citizen story where people participate, deliberate, and co-create together. This see us regain agency and build collective resilience.
"The Citizen Story sees human beings as creative, capable, caring, and powerful."
Drawing on Donella Meadows' systems change work, the authors set out powerful recommendations for how we can accelerate the citizen story:
Maintain the resilience to keep pointing out the failures of the consumer and subject stories.
Celebrate every opportunity we see and step that’s taken toward citizen spaces.
Focus on reaching powerful people with citizen-centered narratives.
Avoid wasting energy reacting to the failures of existing systems.
Work alongside active change agents and open-minded communities.
At no point does this book argue that this shift will be easy. But it does highlight that it could be a shift that can itself be be joyful, healing, and fulfilling.
What I Loved About This Book
One of the book’s most powerful ideas is how clearly it connects systemic change to joy, agency, and meaning.
The Citizen State bring to life our ability to build everyday practices that make people feel seen, valued, and powerful.
I also loved how the authors move from big picture systems thinking to highly practical advice. Their "3 Ps" of participation are immediately useful for changemakers in diverse contexts:
Purpose: What people can buy into, not just buy.
Platform: Communicate in a way that makes participation desirable.
Prototype: How to build energy through small, iterative steps.
I particularly appreciated the clear links to other influential work, like the How to Citizen podcast with Baratunde Thurston and the #WeekOfCitizening series on LinkedIn. By sharing examples where "citizen-ing" is already happening, the book stays hopeful and action-oriented.
Changemaker Takeaways
Changemakers will find Citizens packed with practical ideas. A highlight is the Seven Citizen Questions:
Support Stories as an Ally: Shift from broadcasting your ideas to amplifying others' voices.
Gather Data: Invite people to become active researchers, not passive recipients.
Share Connections: Help citizens connect purpose with their networks.
Contribute Ideas: Ask customers, neighbours, and colleagues for their ideas and experiences.
Give Time: Empower people to help shape and deliver solutions, not just use them.
Learn Skills: Turn your work into active learning experiences, not just passive transactions.
Crowdfund: Let people literally "buy in" to shared goals through funding and ownership.
I see these as small but mighty ways to shift any project to start that shift to a Citizens story.
Why Would I Read This Book?
This book creates a compelling alternative to both despair and disengagement. This book will inspire you if:
You want a deeper, systemic lens on why our institutions feel stuck.
You are looking for hopeful, practical strategies to make collective agency real.
You believe that the future isn’t only determined by those in power today
Citizens invites all of us to step into the citizen story. This doesn’t mean we need to be perfect before we start. Instead we can be participants committed to building a better world, one joyful act at a time.
Image description: Elizabeth holds “"Citizens - the key to fixing everything is all of us" by John Alexander and Ariane Conrad”
