Direct democracy

An OurKingdom conversation [History: Jeremy Gilbert > Rosemary Bechler > this post > Rosemary Bechler (part one; part two) > Jeremy Gilbert]

Jon Bright (London, OK): I was at a fascinating seminar yesterday jointly put on by the new economics foundation and the de Borda institute. And even I was initially suspicious that a three hour seminar on a system of consensus voting could be fascinating.

James Graham (London, Quaequam Blog!): I haven't yet had a chance to read Chris Huhne's leadership election manifesto in full, but I was delighted to see him come out in support of a People's Veto.

I have to admit, I had some inclination that his team were cooking up something like this, as they approached me asking questions about how such systems would work in practice. I know this isn't a policy they just cobbled together without thinking about it; Chris Huhne supporter David Howarth is a sceptic of direct systems of democracy in the best sense of the word (as you can see from this video). If this policy got past David's forensic mind, you can safely bet that it has been robustly scrutinised.

Guy Aitchison (Bristol, OK): The Conservatives under Cameron have become zealots for the idea of direct democracy. We’ve had the Democracy Taskforce’s call for beefed up e-petitions, Direct Democracy’s ‘Think Local’ campaign, Zac Goldsmith talking to Unlock Democracy, and just this week the right wing Centre for Policy Studies produced a pamphlet (introduced below) setting out the lessons to be learnt from New Zealand’s use of citizens’ initiated referendums.

Caroline Morris (Wellington, Victoria University): New Zealand's introduction of direct democracy in the form of citizens' initiated referendums could have valuable lessons for politicians looking for cures for the problem of democratic disengagement in the UK. In a 1993 survey, when the direct democracy legislation was brought in, 63% of respondents agreed with the proposition that "People like me have no say" and 66% said that "Politicians don't care what people think". By 2005, these figures had fallen to 48% and 44% respectively.

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): Conservative Party candidate for Richmond Zac Goldsmith can be watched on YouTube thanks to a middle-distance interview with him by UnlockDemocracy. You can see it via the link below. Towards the end he is asked, "What are the costs of involving the public in decision-making? Its a great answer,