Twelve Concepts of Alcoholics Anonymous

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"First Concept"

The First Concept of The Twelve Concepts is that:

"Final responsibility and ultimate authority for A.A. world services should always reside in the collective conscience of our whole Fellowship."
---The A.A. Service Manual combined with Twelve Concepts for World Service by Bill W.

The structure for AA is all designed to provide that the direction taken by AA is that of the group conscience of the whole fellowship, not the dictates of a few.

Individual AA members come together to form Groups. Groups are arranged in Districts, and Districts are arranged in Areas. There are generally several Areas in a State. Several states are arranged in each Region. AA in the United States and Canada is under the General Service Boad. The United States and Canada send two delegates to the World Service Board that has world-wide responsibility.

Groups elect GSR's (General Service Representatives) which attend District meetings. The GSR's in a District elect a DCM (District Committee Member) to lead the District meetings and to represent the District at meetings of the Area Committees. Meetings of GSRs in an Area are called Assemblies. Area Assemblies send delegates to the AA-wide General Service Conferences that are held every two years. The General Service Conference determines matters of AA policy, and the General Service Board operates the day-to-day business of AA.

Thoughts

Do we know who the GSR is for our Group? Would we be able to desribe how AA functions to someone interested in performing service work?


"The Second Concept"

The Second Concept of AA is:
"The General Service Conference of A.A. has become, for nearly every practical purpose, the active voice and the effective conscience of our whole Society in world affairs."

---The A.A. Service Manual combined with Twelve Concepts for World Service by Bill W., 1997-1998 Edition

When AA was first starting, Dr. Bob and Bill W. had extensive responsibility and authority over how AA was set up and operated. In St. Louis in 1955 at the General Service Conference, this was placed with AA groups which delegated their authority to the Conference through their selection of chosen representatives who are fully empowered to speak and act for them. As Bill W. says, "[T]he principle of amply delegated authority and responsibility to 'trusted servants' must be implicit from the top to the bottom of our active structure of service. This is the clear implication of A.A.'s Tradition Two." (The A.A. Service Manual, p. 10).

Thoughts

Do we know enough about how AA operates and governs itself to explain these things to newcomers? Could we be more effective carrying the message to alcoholics who still suffer if we knew more about how AA operates?


"3rd Concept - Right of Decision"

AA's Third Concept of World Service is that:
"As a traditional means of creating and maintaining a clearly defined working relation between the groups, the Conference, the A.A. General Service Board and its several service corporations, staffs, committees and executives, and of thus insuring their effective leadership, it is here suggested that we endow each of these elements of world service with a traditional "Right of Decision"

The A.A. Service Manual combined with Twleve Concepts for World Service, 1997-8 edition, p. 13-16

The First Concept established that the responsibility and authority for AA world services resided in the collective membership of AA. The Second Concept established that the membership through the groups delegated that authority to the AA General Service Conference. In this Third Concept, the various Boards, corporations (e.g., Grapevine), staffs, and committees are given the right to decide which problems they will dispose of themselves and upon which matters they will report, consult, or ask specific directions.

In practice this concept means that AA's "trusted servants" ought to carefully weigh the wishes of the members, but that they are also trusted to exercise their own judgment in the light of all circumstances, facts and arguments that become known to them during the voting or deliberation process.

Thoughts

Do we understand that when we elect GSR's or DCM's we are electing more than "messengers," that they have and are expected to exercise a Right of Decision?


"4th Concept - Right of Participation"

The Fourth Concept of World Service provides that "At all responsible levels, we ought to maintain a traditional 'Right of Participation,' allowing a voting representation in reasonable proportion to the responsibility that each must discharge." The A.A. Service Manual, Combined with Twelve Concepts for World Service, by Bill W., 1997-8 Ed.

In this Concept, AA provides that all groups within AA should be given a right to participate in the affairs of AA. This Concept provides not only that groups of alcoholics be permitted to participate, but also that staffs that include nonalcoholics should also be permitted the right to vote in proportion to the responsibility they discharge. This insures that every skilled element needed to make informed decision have a right to participate and provides a voice for people with knowledge of how things operate day-to-day.

Thoughts

Isn't it a good idea that all elements within AA have a right to participate? Is this concept carried out in the AA clubs and groups to which we belong?


"Concept Five -- Right of Appeal"

Concept 5 of the Twelve Concepts of World Service reads:

"Throughout our world service structure, a traditional "Right of Appeal" ought to prevail, thus assuring us that majority opinion will be heard and that petitions for the redress of personal grievances will be carefully considered."

Under this concept, all minorities are encouraged to file minority reports whenever they feel a majority to be in considerable error. Even when the minority may be partially or entirely in error, they perform a valuable service by compelling a thourough debate on important issues. They are our chief protection against an uninformed, misinformed, hasty or angry majority

Thoughts

Do we appreciate the great extent to which AA tries to maintain the dignity of individual members and to safeguard everyone from potential excesses of majority rule? Do we practice that same regard for everyone in AA at our own, personal level?


"Sixth Concept -- Chief Initiative"

The Sixth Concept of the Twelve Concepts for World Service is that:
"The Conference recognizes that the chief initiative and active responsibility in most world service matters should be executed by the trustee members of the Conference acting as the General Service Board."

Just as the groups must as a practical matter delegate much of their authority to the Conference, so the Conference must delegate much of its authority to the Trustees; otherwise the Trustees would be unable to act in the absence of the Conference. In essense, AA operates like a corporation with the groups being stockholders who elect Delegates who act on their behalf at the "Annual Meeting" or Conference. The General Service Board Trustees are essentially the directors of the "holding company" that owns and controls the subsidiaries that actually carry on much of the work of AA.

Thoughts

Do we appreciate the great responsibility and authority we are exercising when we elect GSR's and DCM's?