Democracy

Objectives of the squad

The purposes of this squad are to

1. help define what a Pirate Democracy could be

2. interact with other Pirates to try to reach a consensus on this question

3. help publicize our view on democracy (provided point 2 is achieved)

4. work on the tools that will be needed to implement this new type of democracy

Meetings

We will try to meet every month but a time and place still needs to be defined. Meetings will be held in Brussels and in English (to allow all communities to participate), unless another solution seems preferable.

Content

The important concepts that need to be discussed include:

direct democracy

liquid democracy

deliberative democracy

E-democracy

References

book direct democracy

facts, arguments and experiences on the introduction of initiative and referendum

This book is a must for anyone who has an interest in the current changes in society. It is available for free in eight languages.

IRI Guidebooks to Direct Democracy

It is the goal of the Initiative and Referendum Institute, Europe's first think-tank on modern direct democracy founded in 2001, to make a significant contribution to improving the knowledge of the history and practice of direct democracy – in the world in general, and especially in Europe.

That is why the IRI "Guidebook to Direct Democracy" (published in English, French, Spanish, German, Korean, Italian, Finnish and Chinese) focuses on the place where the tools which allow citizens to take part in political decision-making are the most extensive and have been used for the longest period of time – Switzerland. Over the past 150 years, citizens' rights have been continually extended and now cover all the levels of political life (national, cantonal and local) and all areas of politics (including foreign policy).

Liquid democracy

The idea of “Liquid Democracy” has already been circulating on the web for a couple of years, however without any suggestions for a specific execution. The core of the idea is delegated voting, which removes the previous separation between representative democratic and direct democratic decisions. The principle of delegated voting is the base for all Liquid Democracy concepts, however the idea itself is not sufficient when it comes to the describtion of complex political processes. Since the end of 2008 people associated with the current Liquid Democracy e.V. deal with the theme of liquid democracy and try to advance it ever since.

The term “Liquid Democracy”, LD stands for a new form of democracy in which various “rigid“ barriers are being “fluidised“.

To do

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