Part analytic framework and part catalyst for social change, Motive International’s Social Contract Assessment Tool (SCAT) is an empirically-based, highly participatory method of assessing, depicting, and shaping governance and social cohesion in societies confronting competition, conflict, and change.
Watch this 4-minute video to understand the principles of the SCAT
Motive experts developed this one-of-a-kind tool through years of PhD research and decades of practice in the fields of peace-building, global security, and development. We were inspired to develop the SCAT in response to the pressing need for user-friendly, evidence-based approaches to understand and affect governance, authority, and power dynamics at the hyper-local to geo-political scale in support of conflict mitigation and stability.
Fusing social contract theory with Motive’s bias for action, the SCAT enables users to organize data and take precision steps to affect the strength or vulnerability of the three “sources of legitimacy” that give governments, civil society organizations, ethnic groups, businesses, or any other institution the authority to set rules and norms (read: to govern) in society.
Built around culturally neutral, non-normative lines of analysis and adaptable to a wide variety of data sources and contexts, the SCAT is intended for practitioners as varied as policymakers, grassroots leaders, military planners, and countless others.
In the Baltics, a civil-military team used the SCAT to identify institutions vulnerable to Kremlin-backed hybrid warfare, then designed activities to bolster resistance in partnership with local civil society.
In Latin America, the SCAT informed policy options to reduce xenophobia in communities confronting large influxes of Venezuelan migrants.
Special Operators are using the SCAT in the Asia-Pacific region to counter Chinese disinformation by identifying precisely where and why certain messages gain traction and others do not.
Practitioners trained in the SCAT have even applied the tool in their own households to strengthen the power dynamics that underpin parent-child relationships. As versatile as it is effective, Motive’s SCAT has been embraced by governments, peace-builders, and social movement leaders around the world, filling a critical gap in the fields of conflict transformation, great power competition, community building, stabilization, and social justice.
Interested in employing the SCAT?
Here are a few ways to take action
Get expert training in the SCAT by hosting Motive's popular Governance & Social Contracts course
Collaborate with Motive experts to apply the SCAT in a community where you live or work
Partner with Motive to integrate the SCAT into your next program, event, or operation
Conduct research using the SCAT or publish case studies highlighting SCAT findings and impacts
Read more about the SCAT on our blog