By Jessica Reed
This week is Local Democracy week, another initative crafted with young people in mind, and aiming at getting them involved in local politics, in every level possible. The campaign's main concern is to bridge the gap between those blurry, distant institutions that are Local Councils and Authorities and the citizens who often do not realise they can "take part and take power". If like me you are stuck in the "young person" demographic, you can even email the team which will in turn send you a "take part take power" necklace - (I caved and ordered one, and am patiently awaiting for it).
How can local councils fight against the feeling of alienation from Politics that youth is always said to harbour? The first antidote -and probably the most effective- is simple: councillors have to reconnect the people with their institutions. Talk to and listen to them, visit schools, organise youth forums, special events or debates, and turn emerging ideas into concrete projects. These initiatives show that they care about practical measures, and strengthen the idea that local communities can make some of their own political decisions- or even make their own open council budgets (1).
In many ways the success of deliberative initiatives is absolutely crucial : if it leads to tangible decisions incorporating young people and adudt voters in the decision-making process, then local democracy is an amazing tool to develop, promote and reinforce the notion of citizenship (2). On the other hand if the process fails to find a viable outcome citizens might feel let down, misguided and manipulated by politicians, which would only worsen the international democracy crisis.
Margot Wallström's Plan D effort for Europe (Democracy, Dialogue, Debate) is similar: it seeks to build a two-way street discussion between Europeans and their Institutions could learn from local democracy: it is the same plan only on a much larger, pan-national scale with many obstacles and differences to overcome.
(1) Local Democracy Week case studies can be consulted here.
(2) this is what the UK think tank Demos has been advocating for in its pamphlet Everyday Democracy (and its recent blog entry titled "Democracy Weak?").
