#1 Reasons to be Cheerful: Modernising Our Democracy

In this series of short articles, which first appeared in the July print edition of Byline Times, Compass highlights just some of the work from its ‘New Settlement’ project.

In the wake of a transformative General Election, the cross-party group Compass shares its findings on the positive, practical steps in the right direction already happening at a local level in the UK, and on a national scale abroad – exploring how these small but significant solutions could point the way ahead for an era of change for our country. 

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Few now believe that democracy works for them. 

A system designed for an age in which two classes were represented by two mass, catch-all parties, in a culture of tribalism and adversarialism, just doesn’t seem to work in the complex and volatile world we now live in.  

Of course, during a general election campaign, the focus is on the two main parties that can form a majority under our First Past The Post (FPTP) electoral system. But we live in what sociologist Colin Crouch calls a “post-democracy” in which we go through all the varied motions of a functioning democracy, such as voting, but know that too little will change.

The danger is that we enter a vicious spiral in which a lack of trust and belief in the political process leads not just to apathy but to a rejection of democracy itself. If politics can’t stop the planet from burning or people getting poorer, then why not follow the demagogues and national-populists who tell us who to follow and who to hate?

But, just as old forms of representative democracy look and feel tired, they do so in a world in which we have ever-increasing knowledge and power at our fingertips.  

More than ever, individually and collectively, we decide what we want, and how we can do it, ourselves. The muscles of deliberation and decision-making are being strengthened and now need to be injected into the body politic. 

For Compass, there are three areas of priority.  

First, the modernisation of our representative democracy. 

This starts with adopting proportional representation as our voting system – a way of showing every citizen that their vote and their voice counts, while diminishing the power of the already rich and powerful to dominate the system as FPTP allows, when only a few swing voters in a few swing seats really matter. 

Initiatives such as primaries for candidates would break down tribal party boundaries – as they have shown in South Devon (a community-led and grassroots effort creating a fair and transparent way to choose one progressive candidate to unite behind in the General Election) – and pass more power to citizens.   

Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission estimates that up to eight million people who have the right to vote are either missing from, or not correctly entered on, the electoral register. These ‘missing millions’ should be re-democratised through automatic voter registration, which exists in half the countries around the world.

Then we need serious and determined levels of devolution – not just of decision-making, but fiscally. The popularity of metro mayors like Labour’s Andy Burnham in Greater Manchester shows what’s possible. A raft of proposals are on the table, from Gordon Brown’s Commission (which sets out 40 recommendations for constitutional change in the UK, covering rights, devolution within England, devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, intergovernmental cooperation, and reform of the House of Lords); to the work of New Local, an independent think tank and network of councils with a “mission to transform public services and unlock community power”. 

A new democratic second chamber and a written and codified constitution for a federal UK, which all the nations of these islands could feel a strong part of, but be allowed to leave if that is their people’s choice, is also required for real change.

A codified constitution could define our rights and our mutual responsibilities as an inclusive democracy. It could recognise the limits of majoritarian democracy and ensure that the basic standards of humanitarian governance are upheld whoever is in power. That includes full rights of protest. 

We need to strengthen the transparency of the machinery of government, the regulation of lobbying by the already economically powerful, and the controls over MPs taking second jobs and board positions. We need clear parliamentary standards with appropriate sanctions – overseen by an independent body, with standard reporting to constituents about the work of MPs. 

Second, there needs to be much greater experimentation in terms of deliberative and other forms of new democracy.  

These ‘mini-publics’ should be given the resources and support to make meaningful and binding decisions on issues that cut across party lines or, like the Irish experience of updating its birth control laws, that deal with complex social concerns.  

With opportunity and support, ordinary citizens are capable of making complex choices and decisions, taking recommendations to referendums and more direct democracy where appropriate. Over time, we could start to combine elements of representative, deliberative, and direct democracy and use it as we see fit in what is called ‘liquid democracy’, which puts citizens in the democratic driving seat.

Third, as power has globalised through multinational corporations – and the escalation of issues such as climate change and tax justice that can only be solved on an international basis – we have to find ways to globalise democracy, while giving power to people.  

This could take the form of the renewal of older institutions, such as the United Nations. Or the development of new forms of global democratic collaboration, such as the Global Assembly on climate – which by 2030 aims to have more than 10 million annual participants involved in improving our ability to tackle issues such as climate change, health and inequality, and is recognised by more than 50% of the global population, mostly funded by citizens’ donations.

Finally, we need to change the culture of our democracy, not just its structures. We need more pluralism, kindness, and long-termism.  

Political parties will always be a feature of any democracy, but they have become too narrow. Organisations such as Compassion in Politics show us the dangers of an emotionally unintelligent politics and how much better things could be if we made politics more human.  

To change society, we must first change the system. The way we do politics doesn’t allow the choices we need to make to even reach the agenda. 

Whether our prime concern is climate change, social injustice, civil liberties, or almost anything, democracy must become a first-order issue. 

Neal Lawson is the director of Compass