Colleagues and Friends,
News of political party finance scandals have flooded the german press for
several months. Not surprisingly, because of these, it has become much
easier for critics of parties and of the representative democratic system
to find public attention.
One aspect of this criticism is reflected in calls for the strengthening of
direct democratic procedures and the introduction of citizen-initiated
referendum, to complement the representative system, at the federal level.
In my opinion a strengthening and increase of direct democratic procedures
is to be welcomed. The nature of these procedures demands that, in order
for them to work well, a broad spectrum of the population must support
their introduction and be prepared to invest some effort, e.g. in learning
about important public issues. They cannot be expected to compensate fully
for either the weaknesses of the party-parliamentary system or the
corruptness and arrogance of some politicians.
Some thoughts on how "deliberative" aspects of democracy may be improved
are to be found via http://www.snafu.de/~mjm/offenes-forum.html (auf
deutsch) and http://www.snafu.de/~mjm/enter.html
Recent articles:
Arnim, Hans Herbert von. Wie die politische Klasse ihre Schluesselstellung
nutzt. Frankfurter Rundschau 25 Feb.2000, S.24.
Gaserow, Vera. Auch die Gruenen wollen jetzt Flagge zeigen. Frankfurter
Rundschau 22 Feb.2000, S.6.
Kroeter, Thomas. Gruene wollen Macht der Parteien begrenzen. Tagesspiegel
22.Feb.2000, S.4.
Oezdemir, Cem (Bundestagsabgeordneter, Buendnis 90/Die Gruenen). Mehr
direkte Demokratie wagen. Kommune 18. Jg. Nr.3/00
Robert Leicht. Wir sind das Volk
http://www.ZEIT.de/tag/aktuell/200009.demokratie_.html
Gero von Randow berichtet von Erfahrungen, die man in der Schweiz und den
USA mit Volksentscheiden gemacht hat: Vor allem in der Schweiz haben
direktdemokratische Prozeduren zu umfassenden gesellschaftlichen
Lernprozessen beigetragen.
http://www.ZEIT.de/tag/aktuell/200009.direkt_.html
zwei aeltere Stuecke
<http://www.archiv.zeit.de/cgi-bin/bda/vtrserve.pl//zeit
-archiv///daten/pages/demokratie.txt.19980408.html>
<http://www.archiv.zeit.de/cgi-bin/bda/vtrserve.pl//zeit-archiv///daten/pages/19
9951.t%2ddemokratie_.html>
Sincerely,
Michael Macpherson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr. Michael Macpherson,
PSAMRA/Integral Studies,
Berlin FRG
tel.: +49 30 262 3768
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
INTEGRAL STUDIES
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