Strengthening democracy by increasing citizen participation would catalyze ecological change The way individuals think about and act in nature reflects the way the feel treated by the society Contribution to the Symposium VII “The Arctic: Mirror of Life” Greenland, September 8 th 2007 by Andreas Gross (Switzerland) Political scientist

Structure of this presentation 1. The double crises of democracy: A. How to overcome the inner crises ? - Why we should do it ? B. The crises of the nation-state 2. The ecological relevance of democratisation of Democracy 3. Pay attention to the design 4. How to overcome the difficulty of change ?

Let’s not sacrifice key notions of politics to the banalisation of public discourse: Let’s overcome the banalisation of the terms “Freedom” and “Democracy” Democracy enables us to be free. Freedom enables us to act together on our common life (« Life is not a destiny ») Democracy constitutes the rules, rights and procedures to prevent conflicts to be solved violently

In the 18 th century, when Representative Democracy was created, it reflected the social distribution of and access to knowledge: Few knew much - many knew less. Today education, information and knowledge are no privileges anymore. Democracy has to be designed in a way, that allows the society(ies) to realize it’s/their societal potentials

Representative democracy is an essential part of Democracy. But it should not have the monopole of Democracy Indirect Democracy enables you to vote your representatives; Direct Democracy enables you to vote on important issues you don’t want to leave to your Representatives This small difference has a huge impact !

Direct Democracy is about people voting on issues, they proposed themselves   The Right to Vote on important issues contributes to the democratization of democracy and improves the political culture of a country   More substance, more alternatives, more differentiation, more deepness, more individual knowledge and more social learning

DD is a set of participatorial citizens rights - much more than just a people’s vote Const.Referendum Optional legislat. Referendum Const.pop.Initiative Threaty Referendum General/legislat. Initiative Konstruct.Referendum Citizen Motion (To the Parliam.)

Which are the basic (“principal”)products of Direct Democracy’s best practices?   Individual / collective communication&deliberations   Power has to be shared   Collective learning potentials   political openness et legitimate polity   Identification with the DD process (« Democratic patriotism »)

Really participatory citizen rights transform the political culture Nobody can command, everybody has to try to convince Much more people think,deliberate, discuss, learn Nobody has the privilege, not to have to learn Politics are softer, more communicative, more deliberative, more educative - realizes the learning potentials of a society

Be aware of the design which determines the quality of Direct Democracy   Low signature requirements, allow open collection, no supermajorities (quorums)   Cooperative, no antagonistic interface between repres. Dem. and Direct Dem.: Right to Counter-Proposals   Deliberations and negotiations need time: No fast food democracy   Fairness rules and transparency in the campaign-laws; dialogistic voter pamphlets

How to be a catalyst for ecological change ? Al Gore (in: “Inconv.Truth”): “Learn more - let others know - encourage - consider - take action - change your way of life” HAH The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew (yesterday): “Deliberations - reflect together - engaging in dialogue - overcome human thoughtlessness” The design of the polity should serve as an incentive for individual behavior in the common interest

Institutional dignity (respect) of the citizens is a essential contribution for making him respect the nature   Participation makes you feel being part of the society, contributes to your identification with the whole society   This social and political inclusion enables individuals to see and act towards nature and natural resources with respect and nonviolence   You create a sense of belonging and togetherness which transcends the humans beings to all life.   The quality of one relation increases the quality of the other

Ecological crises require a transnationalisation of democracy   “Those, who are concerned by a problem have to be a part of the decision-making process to solve the problem”   National Democracies are structurally enable to impose to transnational markets social and ecological limits   National governments are often too weak to oppose transnational economic lobbies

How to transnationalise Democracy ?   Work out a real European Constitution,including transnational European participatory citizen rights   The UN-Reform needs to include besides the diplomatic GA, a Parliamentary Assembly and a NGO-chamber, which have equal powers and to which WB,IMF,WTO are accountable   The EDHR from 1957 should be enlarged, globalised and ruled by international law: Every person has political, social, ecological rights, which every kind of power (state,corporations, int.org) has to respect and which are protected by a global judiciary

Why the democratization of regional and national democracies is a condition for transnational democracy building ?   Politicians are only ready to share power if they are afraid to loose all of it - you can not democratize Democracy without powerful citizen movements   If citizen feel frustrated or even fed up with their regional or national democracies they can’t think about a strong transnational democracy and don’t find the self- confidence for it