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Explore liberal democracy, political trust, and conditions for democracy in a changing society. Discuss direct and deliberative democracy examples.
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Democracyunderpressure: time for changeStudium Generale Wageningen University, January 24, 2017 Monique Leyenaar Professor of ComparativePolitics Radboud University Nijmegen
Content • Democracy: coreelements • ConditionsforDemocracy • PoliticalparticipationandDemocracy • Direct DemocracyandDeliberativeDemocracy • Examples of DeliberativeDemocracy • Citizens’ Jury Amsterdam 2006 • Citizens’ Forum on Electoral Systems 2006 • European Citizens’ Consultation 2009 • Iceland’s and Ireland’sConstitutionalConvention 2011/2012 • G 1000
Liberaldemocracy Liberal democracy is a liberalpolitical ideology and a form of government in which representative democracy operates under the principles of classical liberalism. It is also called western democracy. It is characterised by fair, free, and competitive elections between multiple distinctpolitical parties, a separation of powers into different branches of government, the rule of law in everyday life as part of an open society, and the equal protection of human rights, civil rights, civil liberties, and political freedoms for all people.
LiberalDemocracy: coreelements • Participation • Conditions
9th of 193 countries 14th of 170 countries Highest score 10th of 167countries Conditions Liberaldemocracy Democracyindex Political trust &Civic engagement Politicalrights &Civicliberties 5th placeworldwide Upper 10 % 8th of 193 countries 5th of 113 countries Rule of law Professional publicadministration Corruptionindex Quality public administration
NL: SatisfactionwithDemocracy NKO Eurobarometer
SatisfactionwithDemocracy Bron: Thomassen & van Ham 2013
Conclusions In the Netherlands the most important conditionsforDemocracy are fullfilledto a very high extent. (Niet de Kiezer is gek, Tom van der Meer, 2017)
Political system hasn’t changed but society has! • Social context has changed: • Individualisation / Secularization • Highereducational level • ICT • Shift in culturalvalues • Effects: • Citizenslesswilling to playaccording to the traditional rules • Declininglevels of trust in parties, politicians • Declining levels of traditional participation • Permeation of television, computers, internet, social media • Greateraccess to information • Questioningresponsibility and accountability
Electoral volatility NL Source: CasalBertoa & Schneider 2012
Conclusions: Representative (Liberal) Democracy • Representative democracy historically has emerged as the most effective political type of regime • Yet the actual degree of ‘democracy’ of the decision making process is being questioned: ‘post-democratic paradigm’ (elitist, technocratic, influenced by interest groups, preferences manipulated by media….)
Conclusions continued • In any case there is a legitimacy crisis: growing gap elected and electorate, declining electoral turn-out, protest vote for ‘anti-system’ parties, etc. • Explainable by growing expectations and demands caused by increased levels of competence, policy overload, increasing societal complexity, intractable issues, limited resources….
Reforming Democracy: Political Participation • In normative and empirical approaches: 1 dimension • representative • direct • hybrid forms - based on wishes citizens- periodical elections • decision making by citizens themselves recently: deliberative democracy- inclusive- through informed discussion
ReformingDemocracy • Strenghten the institutions of representativedemocracy? • Orintroduce more direct democracy • And focus on the qualityof democracy / participation: deliberativedemocracy
Trend towards direct democracy • More countrieswith referendum legislation (CEE-countries) • Increase in use of nationalandlocal referenda • More political offices directlyelected (Scarrow 2001)
Deliberative democratic practices (1) • a process that ensures equality of access, procedural fairness and mutual respect that will produce legitimate outcomes (Abelson et al, 2003) • an inclusive, representative process that brings key stakeholders and publics together • informed, substantive and conscientious discussion • a neutral, professional staff that helps participants work through a fair agenda • citizens’ empowerment or influence of the deliberative practices on public decision-making
Deliberative democratic practices (2) • Theoretical considerations resulted in the development of many methods of deliberative democracy. They include among others: • citizens’ conventions • citizens’ juries • participatory budgeting • G1000
Example 1: G1000 • Bottom up initiative • Random selection of participants • Often open agenda • Deliberation in small groups • Consensus seeking Problematic • ‘usual suspects’ • hardlyany policy impact
Citizens’ Juries • A cross-cutting of the (local) population through random selection • They are providedwithbalanced information aboutthe issue • Theycometogetherone or more daysto question experts as well as organizedinterestsandtodeliberateamongthemselvesaboutthe issue • They provide a judgement about the (local) issue for the council or parliament.
Example 3: Citizens’ Convention • They address big, national questions of constitutional/institutional design • They are established by government to meet a certain objective in time-delimited fashion • The are quite deliberately and distinctly treated as a supplement (rather than competitor) to the existing system of representative democracy • Ordinary citizens are at their core (though on occasions working side-by-side with elected politicians) • For the most part, the membership is based on random selection rather than election • For the most part, the outcome of their deliberations is generally clear
Iceland’s Constitutional Council 2011/12(Eirikur Bergmann, Bifrost University, Iceland) Background • The “crash” of 2008 • Constitutional revision was one of the demands of the “pots-and-pans revolution” in January 2009 • The banking system had grown 10 times the GDP • Three banks comprising 85% of the banking system collapsed within a week, the rest in quick succession • Local equity market was virtually wiped out overnight • Elster (1995): Most constitutions are written or revised following economic or political upheaval because crises often trigger demands for a fresh start or expose flaws to be fixed
The process • Parliament decided to proceed in three steps • Convene National Forum • 1,000 persons selected at random through stratified sampling • Appoint Constitutional Committee to gather information, provide analysis, and propose ideas • Seven specialist from different directions, 700-page report • Hold election for Constitutional Council representatives • 25 representatives elected from among 523 candidates by STV (Single Transferable Vote)
IrishConstitutionalConvention Convention on the Constitution • The Convention on the Constitution is a forum of 100 people, representative of irish society and parliamentarians from the island of Ireland, with an independent Chairman. • The Convention was established by Resolution of both Houses of the Oireachtas to consider and make recommendations on certain topics as possible future amendments to the Constitution. The Convention is to complete its work within 12 months. • For its part, the Government has undertaken to respond to the Convention's recommendations within four months by way of debates in the Oireachtas and where it agrees with a particular recommendation to amend the Constitution, to include a timeframe for a referendum.
IrishConstitutionalConvention Work Programme • The task that the Constitutional Convention has been given is set out in the Resolution of the Houses of the Oireachtas of July, 2012 and includes consideration of the following: • Reduction of the Presidential term of office to five years and the alignment with local and European elections; • Reduction of the voting age to 17; • Review of the Dáil electoral system; • Irish citizens’ right to vote at Irish Embassies in Presidential elections; • Provisions for same-sex marriage; • Amendment to the clause on the role of women in the home and encouraging greater participation of women in public life; • Increasing the participation of women in politics; and • Removal of the offence of Blasphemy from the Constitution. • Following completion of these topics the Convention may make other recommendations as it sees fit. • The Convention is to complete its work within 12 months. • Convention on the Constitution Secretariat: Art O’Leary (Secretary); Richard Holland; Nason Fallon • The Chairman of the Convention is supported by The Academic & Legal Support Group .
Conclusion • Given the flaws in the functioning of liberal democracy (exclusion, diploma democracy, declining role of parties etc.) on the one hand • And increasing numbers of citizens willing and capable of political participation • It is time for innovation of politics.
