Reinveting Direct Democracy
This document discusses the history and modern problems of democracy and proposes a solution of reinventing direct democracy through an epetition platform. It outlines that in ancient Athenian and Roman democracies, citizens voted directly on issues. Modern representative democracies elect parties or leaders who then make decisions. However, governments may not prioritize what people see as important and there can be a lack of accountability and transparency. The document proposes an online epetition platform that allows citizens to directly decide priorities and communicate directly with representatives to increase transparency and participation in democracy. Initial research has been done and the platform functionality will be tested with policies for direct communication and transparency.
Reinveting Direct Democracy
- 2. History: Athenian democracy Physically by show of hands (kheirotonia)
- 3. History: Roman Empire ● Divided into tribes ● Citizens voted in their tribes ● Each tribe had a vote
- 4. Modern Democracy (1/2) Parliamentary System: People vote for parties. The party (or a coalition of parties) with the greatest representation in the parliament (legislature) forms the government, its leader becoming prime minister.
- 5. Modern Democracy (2/2) Presidential System:People vote for a head of state that leads the executive branch. Anothering voting is done for the parliament that leads the legislative branch
- 6. Problems of Modern Democracy (1/2) ● How does government decides what’s important for the people? ● Lack of accountability ● Lack of transparency
- 7. Problems of Modern Democracy (2/2) ● Modern democracy was formed because of increased population ● People trust every 4 or 5 years their vote to their representatives ● The representatives don’t always act in the best interest of people o Corruption o Popularism o Higher interests: For example Troika in Cyprus
- 8. Solution: Reinventing Direct Democracy ● Epetition platform: Citizens should be able to decide what is important ● Transparency everywhere: Citizens should have access to everything ● Direct communication: Easy mechanism for citizens to communicate their representatives
- 9. What have we done so far ● Create online platform based on we the people by Obama ● Research online platforms: we the people (USA), European citizens' initiative (EU) and Epetitions (UK). ● First draft of policy paper
- 10. Pending ● Test platform’s functionality on epetitions ● Create mechanism on platform for direct communication with representatives (similar to WriteToThem) ● Create mechanism on platform for more transparency: Citizens should know what their representatives are doing
- 11. Remarks • Draft presentation • Please contact me at [email protected] if you are interested in this project