DEMOCRACY REFORMS IN SWEDEN OFFER
GUIDANCE FOR BRITAIN
Stronger rights of electors to
govern their own affairs now anchored in
constitution
For the around 300 local authorities and 26 regions the Swedes
introduced from the beginning of 2011
1. Citizens' law-proposal (initiative)
2. Right (improved) to demand a plebiscite (decision by the electorate,
"referendum").
These changes strengthen the role of citizens in regional and local
government. Before this reform there was a citizens' right to demand a
referendum but this could be refused by the governing authority.
Swedish attention to detail for good governance is illustrated by some
accompanying innovations. They propose to build a "comprehensive
direct-democratic infrastructure" (Kaufmann), with local advice centres
for voters who wish to contribute to governance and exploit their new
democratic rights. Also planned is a national institution for political
participation, which will inform citizens and support and encourage the
newly introduced "direct" democracy.
The rules for citizens' initiative and referendum were laid down by
revision of the constitution of state which came into force in January
2011.
--------------
Summarised from: Bruno Kaufmann, "A more democratic Sweden":
Demokratischeres Schweden md magazin Nr.88, 1/2011 published by
mehr-demokratie.de
key words, tags: direct democracy, citizens initiative, ballot
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ANTI-CUTS?
FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC DIRECT DEMOCRACY
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BIG IDEA FOR UK GENERAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN
2010
irgb wrote in The Independent:
Tuesday, 30 March 2010 at 08:37 am (UTC)
The INdirect democracy of political parties and parliament has
performed badly and this shows up in the anger and despair of many
voters.
People see government as out of control, way beyond representation of
the people, and parliament as weak, servile and, perhaps pitiably,
corrupt.
Just giving away a vote to a candidate once every five years is a poor
way to run and manage our (own) public affairs.
Practically speaking there is no way to abolish the political parties
and institutions of government.
So how can things be improved?
THE BIG IDEA Partial Direct Democracy.
This gives us, the voters, a say in what politicians are doing in the
periods between elections.
How it works.
1) A BRAKE on runaway government. With the optional veto-referendum a
parliamentary bill or recently passed law can be referred to the
people. Say, half a million endorsements (signatures) collected with a
few months can trigger a veto referendum.
2) INPUT BY THE OWNERS The citizens' law proposal (initiative) allows
ideas which have gathered huge support to go onto the public agenda for
debate. Parliament is obliged to debate these proposals. If rejected,
the proposal goes to binding referendum of the whole electorate.
Regulations for "the citizens' initiative" are set to avoid
overwhelming the system with proposals. This sort of democracy
generates much public debate and encourages people to become involved.
3) SACK BAD MPs The "Recall" procedures is a citizens' initiative
within a constituency. If an agreed large number of voters call for an
MP to go, a ballot must be held to decide her/his fate. If the Recall
succeeds a by-election must be held.
More detail about these "
DEMOCRACY APPS"
may be found in www, see
http://www.iniref.org/index.enter.html
Charter88
Citizen Extra:
General
Election
Manifesto
Download
I&R ~ GB Citizens' Initiative and Referendum
Campaign for direct democracy in Britain
========================================
In reply to:
You can both go hang, say voters
50 per cent say choosing Brown is unthinkable... 51 per cent claim they
have no enthusiasm for Tories...
The Independent Tuesday, 30 March 2010
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/you-can-both-go-hang-say-voters-1930647.html
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ELECTION
CAMPAIGN:
WISE
MEN
TALKING
So the general election road show revs up. Dazzling talk show heroes
attempt to convince us of their competence to deal with all
problems, political and global eventualities for another five
year term. Of course, they also wish to distract attention away from
serious flaws in our democracy and governance.
Just giving away your vote to a candidate once every five years is seen
by many as inadequate. Events crop up, many policy areas cannot be
covered during an election campaign. Do we not need better democracy
than this?
Have you decide to stay at home on polling day? To abstain? To modify
your ballot paper by writing "<b>None of the above</b>"?
If so you may consider using our
Constructive
Protest
Vote
See the
GUIDE
FOR VOTERS, NON-VOTERS AND THE UNDECIDED
===========
"Last night's televised debate on Channel 4 between the would-be next
chancellors of the exchequer — Ed Balls excepted — was a victory for
serious televised political argument. It did all the participants —
Alistair Darling, George Osborne and Vince Cable — considerable
credit."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/30/darling-osborne-cable-economic-policy
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VETO-REFERENDUM
TO
COUNTER
PARTY
WHEELER DEALING
Surely we, the electorate, should be able to veto laws which are
unwanted or bad. Having this right to veto certainly make the political
parties pay, in advance of legislating, more respect to the interests
of voters.
This is the facultative (optional) referendum. With a bit of practice
it's easy to operate ;-)
In order to force a referendum on a bill in parliament, a large number
of endorsements must be collected within a fairly short time period,
say three months.
More about citizen-led democracy at our web site.
I&R ~ GB Citizens' Initiative and Referendum
Campaign for direct democracy in Britain
http://www.iniref.org/ election campaign
http://www.iniref.org/index.enter.html
===========================
In reply to: "The season of the wash-up is upon us. This unfortunately
has nothing to do with cleansing parliament from its many stains of
corruption – more necessary now than ever. It is the term used to
describe the negotiations between the parties to decide which bills
will survive at the end of the parliamentary session and which will
not. It is a secretive process, the modern equivalent of the
smoke-filled room."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/28/pre-election-parliamentary-wash-up
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SIMPLISTIC
GOVERNMENT
CAMPAIGNS,
DEMOCRACY
DEFICIT
What you describe are features of poor political culture. Given the
problems which we all face, for example the climate change which you
mention but also global financial instability and persisting extreme
poverty, we urgently need better governance – to run our public affairs
with more creativity, responsibility and generosity.
One aspect of our poor governance is a lack of democracy. In UK and its
countries we have only indirect democracy which allows us to "decide"
on political issues once every five or so years, when as voters we are
supposed to "best guess" the whole range of policy. There is no way for
the electorate to intervene on urgent issues or indeed on new problems
which crop up between elections.
There are methods of democracy which allow "fine tuning" of public
policy and veto of unwanted law or government action. These include the
law-proposal (initiative) and the citizens' referendum. To introduce
these democratic "tools", as most politicians oppose them, will need
strong public will for reform. Several projects linked as follows offer
information and assistance: Index http://www.iniref.org/index.enter.html
Basic presentation http://www.iniref.org/steps.html
Sign up for reform http://www.iniref.org/ballot.html UK general
election tactics http://www.iniref.org/carta.htm
Links
http://campaignfordemocracy.org.uk/directdemocracyexamples/
http://www2.prestel.co.uk/rodmell/
===========================
In reply to:
When was it that the Government started openly treating the public as
idiots – or, rather, as very young children who can be patronised and
brain-washed in this embarrassing, inept fashion?
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/terence-blacker/terence-blacker-the-march-of-playground-morality-1923662.html
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