I went to an interesting seminar last week at the CLG (yes – unusual!) where Prof. Lawrence Pratchett and Dr Catherine Durose from De Montfort University talked about a recent systematic review they have carried out of a number of different empowerment tools. You can find the full report on the CLG site and its [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Representative democracy’
Paradox of representation
Here’s qmonkey asking a good Q and tentatively offering an answer: “I want the best and smartest people for the job! Then have their appointment vetted by my elected representatives… who don’t need to be gifted at anything else, other than successfully representing the views of their constituents.”
Populism, participation and democracy
Over at the Democratic Society blog, Anthony has written a very good post on the balance between decisions that have a democratic flavour to them (in the crudest sense of the word – decisions that reflect the broad stated will of those who express a view) and the need for high-quality decisionmaking.
Why is representative democracy the 'least worst' option?
Democracy is the worst form of government except all the other forms that have been tried from time to time – Winston Churchill Funny aphorisms have a habit of making a case better than any footnoted essay, and Churchill’s view remains the most quoted argument I’ve seen in the defence of liberal democracy. But what [...]
Do voters choose their representatives wisely?
Here’s a really good post that superimposes the work of Alexis de Tocqueville and John Stuart Mill onto the John Sergeant / Strictly Come Dancing débâcle. Chris asks: Do we necessarily pick the best people as elected representatives? Is this a bad thing? Chris concludes that it shouldn’t be a bad thing, but that our [...]