The treatment of elected and appointed governors, staff, and sometimes even the public has eroded significantly in recent years while the prominence of incivility and abuse has grown at the same time.
What victims are experiencing is unique in every case, but there are themes that have emerged and continue to get more complex and polarized. Any elected official will most likely see themselves in this book, and most members of staff will also encounter situations that they experience too. This timely book gives public servants the understanding that they are certainly not alone, and that there really are solutions about what must be done to make our civil society truly civil again.
Ian McCormack has worked in the governance sector for many years and he has noticed the critical erosion of civility in our society over that time. His professional practice has enabled him to work with local governments, non-profits, school boards, associations, libraries, and other organizations led by governance boards all across Canada and beyond. He has seen the treatment of elected and appointed governors, staff, and sometimes the public erode significantly while the prominence of incivility and abuse grow at the same time.
Through interviews, stories, and research, (Un)Civil Society is designed to identify and highlight the problems of incivility and abuse, to speak to why it’s getting worse, and to provide some hope for how to counter this scourge.
