DEBATE
Preliminary Proposals for the introduction of
Elements of Direct Democracy in Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Collated January 2007 by Michael Macpherson
The four sets of proposals originate from four different groups (date of proposal in brackets)
Unlock Democracy, a joint programme of Charter88 and New Politics Network (2006)
Power Inquiry (2006)
Our Say (2006)
I&R~GB Campaign for Citizens’ Initiative and Referendum (1994-1999)
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The “four sets of proposals” may be found in www at
http://www.iniref.org/dd4proposals.doc
In response to direct approach of I&R~GB
the following experts have very kindly commented on one or more of the
4 proposals. Click author’s name to reach his comment. Readers may of
course if they wish correspond directly with the commentators. You will need to remove SPACES (anti-spam) from e-mail addresses. To read replies and correspondence click REPLIES, below.
Readers please send your comments if any and copies of important correspondence to
M Macpherson e-mail mm@iniref.org
EXPERTS
Michael Efler e-mail michael.efler @ mehr-demokratie.de
Ph.D. Political scientist and economist. (Doctoral
thesis: International Investment Agreements – current status and reform
options) Board member, Mehr Demokratie e.V. Germany.
Miroslav Kolar e-mail miro @ mkolar.org
Physicist, democracy reformer. Lives in Canada. Ph.D. in
Theoretical Solid State Physics (Prague) Principal Scientist; LS
Computing Ltd.. Field: “Modelling of reaction-diffusion and
electrochemical processes”. CV http://www.mkolar.org/CV/ Founder Direct Democracy Meeting Place http://democracy.mkolar.org/
Paul Ruppen e-mail forum @ europa-magazin.ch
Swiss political scientist PhD in Sociology and Political Science (University of Bern). Editor of “Europa-Magazin” www.europa-magazin.ch and President of the “Forum für Direkte Demokratie” in Zürich.
Milan Valach e-mail Valach @ iol.cz
Ph.D. Direct democracy campaigner and academic, Czech Republic
Faculty of Education, Department of Civics, Masaryk University Brno
Czech Movement for Direct Democracy http://www.pdemokracie.ecn.cz/
Tim Weber e-mail tim.weber @ mehr-demokratie.de
Political scientist. Mehr Demokratie Bremen, Germany
Anonymous guest
Replies may be sent to the unnamed author via info@iniref.org
Kieron O'Hara On direct democracy a "constructive sceptic". Senior research fellow
in Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton,
and a fellow of the Web Science Research Initiative. His books include:
'Plato and the Internet' (2002); 'Trust: From Socrates to Spin' (2004);
'After Blair: Conservatism Beyond Thatcher' (2005); 'The Referendum
Roundabout' (2006)