More than 20 years ago I had a lively discussion with a leading German politician who complained that Terre Des Hommes, the child rights organisation I was leading at the time, interfered with national politics. He abhorred our advocacy and campaigns and demanded that we “leave politics to the politicians”. This politician’s perspective was firmly rooted in a traditional understanding of democracy shaped in the 19th and early 20th centuries: once every four or five years people would undertake the often arduous journey to a polling station, cast their votes and return home, most of them leaving politics to the politicians until the next election.
Since that conversation, the growth of digital communications means that politicians have lost their monopoly on politics. Representative democracy as we know it is under enormous pressure everywhere. Globally, a power struggle between governments and “their” citizens or, from my perspective, between citizens and their governments, is underway. The Internet has provided each individual with more and better means to inform themselves, to control politicians, to voice their opinion, to seek the support of others and to form powerful political alliances. The space for civic participation has grown enormously and power has shifted away from traditional political structures and actors.
But politicians have not only lost power to the individual: as a result of accelerated globalisation they have also lost power to supra-national institutions such as the European Union and global ones, especially multi-national companies. What we observe today—and what many of us suffer from—are the responses of traditional political elites to their loss of power in both local and global directions: they try to reduce our space for political participation and they foster aggressive nationalism. Arguments such as, “We need to stop terrorism” or “We need to preserve our culture and/or religion“ or “We need to secure our living standard” are used around the world to justify discrimination against foreigners or minorities, and to restrict the rights of citizens.
