A fork in the road to democracy

Peter Brenner
I will not report on the event in full. I hope somebody else might do that. Suffice is for me to say that we did experience a standing ovation for Peter Hay’s analysis of the “pre-conditions for democracy and why they are not in place” … … But there was a major source of disturbing and confusing messages in this vital dialogue on democracy. They were delivered by keynote speaker professor John Keane. Keane has written what he and others hope will become the latest and most authoritative volume on the history and scope of democracy (The Life and Death of Democracy, to be published in April 2009).

A fork in the road to democracy

“A dialogue on democracy” was the theme of the first Tasmanian festival of ideas in Launceston on Saturday, organised by the Evatt Foundation.

I will not report on the event in full. I hope somebody else might do that. Suffice is for me to say that we did experience a standing ovation for Peter Hay’s analysis of the “pre-conditions for democracy and why they are not in place” (the impressive piece might get published judging by the strong public demand and the offers by good souls to type the handwritten manuscript). There were other enlightened and interesting moments during the cocktails on Friday evening and the main event on Saturday.

But there was a major source of disturbing and confusing messages in this vital dialogue on democracy. They were delivered by keynote speaker professor John Keane. Keane has written what he and others hope will become the latest and most authoritative volume on the history and scope of democracy (The Life and Death of Democracy, to be published in April 2009).

Keane in his keynote address spent much time describing how democracy had failed and continues to fail in many circumstances in ancient and modern history. A pretty grim picture took hold of the audience. The mood changed when he finally progressed to outline the ingredients necessary to make democracy work. For the sake of briefness I will only repeat two randomly selected statements: democracy happens when we “rub along as equals” or when “nobody rules”. Fair enough.

Keane had obviously delved into written sources very deeply, enriched by extensive travels around the globe to interesting individuals and historic places of democratic interest such as Athens and Mesopotamia. But in doing so he seems to have been side tracked by the shimmering foliage at the outer edge of the “democracy tree” and lost sight of its trunk.

This became apparent when the simplest possible question about democratic practices came from the floor: “Is there a country in which democracy works?” The good professor was spellbound. “You put me on the spot there” he said, sliding uncomfortably around his chair. In the absence of a clear answer he proceeded to flit around the outer edges of our metaphorical “democracy tree” again.

The answer to the simple question above is of course Switzerland, with its elaborate mechanisms of binding direct democracy that have steered the resource poor mountain country with its four national language groups successfully and prosperously through 160 years of democracy on the basis of multi-party coalition governments with changing majorities from issue to issue and a water tight system of checks and balances in the hands of the population, which in Switzerland is called “The Sovereign” (as opposed to “the mob”, “the rabble” in many discussions here). More about that later on Tas Times.

I make a big do about this because John Keane is regarded as “one of the great intellectual exports from Australia” and likely to be used as the guide for future discussions about the improvement of democratic mechanisms in Australia or Tasmania in particular. But if we get sucked into the vortex of infotainment on the history of democracy presented by our “Clive James of democracy” we will lose valuable time and analytical power that will be much needed to sink a few distinctive beacons of clarity in the mud of the mostly unqualified discussions on how to improve democracy in Tasmania.

Now to hands-on knowledge of how to deal with the concept of binding direct democracy. As mentioned earlier on Tas Times there is a 96 page, well written book that cuts straight to the chase and offers an indispensable guide to take into consideration when dealing with binding direct democracy as an addendum (not a replacement) to existing indirect (representative) democracy.

The book (“Direct Democracy, Facts and Arguments about the Introduction of Initiative and Referendum” by Jos Verhulst & Arjen Nijeboer) comes in pdf form and can be downloaded here: verhulst-nijeboer-di1541BB.pdf

This is a real start towards a meaningful attempt to come to terms with improving democratic systems in Tasmania. Keep John Keane’s forthcoming book for a bit of reading in front of the log fire if you must.

Further tangible information and support is obtainable from (http://www.idea.int/) International IDEA
Institute for Democratic and Electoral Assistance
Supporting Democracy worldwide

Peter Brenner