Even if humans cannot avoid creating problems, at least humans are problem solvers. We still have hope. Today's democracy ca...
Even if humans cannot avoid creating problems,
at least humans are problem solvers.
We still have hope.
How a reformed democracy should work?
Solving social challenges is the task of social management. If the social governance model is ineffective, society cannot efficiently address either global or local challenges. To solve any level of difficulties requires the cooperation of the community. It is primarily a management task, which allows and utilizes social collaboration.
Finding solutions for societal challenges at a professional level is usually simple. The difficulty is the social side of the solution. We know what we should do, but we do not know how to engage the society in cooperation to fix the problem. Social challenges are primarily the problem of management. The proposed system is a management method. It provides a universal way to handle challenges.
In a working democratic system, as this proposed system's goal is, the natural interest (as a stay and gain influence), and the competence (as the effect of the allowed acts), must not fall in the same direction of either of the cooperating parties. When these two act in the same direction and enforce each other, it usually leads to authority. In the proposed system, the interest and the competence - in the described sense above - are separated.
To serve the cooperation instead of rivalry, the model has no single leader or closed management group at any level. The system is based on cooperation at all levels.
The outlined system works without the competing organizations of advocacy groups, without the parties. However, a system without parties must not mean a system of authority or a one-party system where the influence and direction of a person, or a narrow and closed group, prevails. Human society is a dynamically changing environment. People are capable of freedom, and they need it. At the same time, the people who build the society are not the same in need, intent, interest, and demand. This, with a high degree of freedom, can lead to a chaotic and therefore inefficient society.
In the proposed system, interest validation does not mean the appearance and representation of the interests of particular social groups but represent the common benefit of the people on a regional basis. This avoids that society disperses between competing groups of rivalry. With the proper regional design, the individuals in the given community represent different social groups simultaneously and therefore represent the common interests.
In the recommended governance system, people's vote does not appoint high-level community leaders, and leader selection is based on denotation instead of self-nomination.
The system requires a Committee. The task of this Committee is to select and call-back (recall, remove from the position) high-level community leaders, and may give advice to community leaders by utilizing Ad-hoc boards if it is asked for.
The members of the Committee must keep their former everyday occupation. To be a member of the Committee is not an occupation but a community position, and as it is, does not provide any salary or other benefits. Committee members must keep their former professions and continue regular life, and they must maintain their values, which were the base of their selections.
Who can be a member of this Committee? Anybody. Who selects the members of the Committee? Everybody. The people vote for the members of the Committee.
The member of the Committee is a valued member of the society based on his or her past and present life. Anybody can be nominated to be a member of the Committee, but must get a majority vote from the people.
No voting campaign comes with this system. Those who want to be members of the Committee only need to submit a resume of their past and present life, which should be able to convince the people, that he or she would be a good choice for the task. There is no need to campaign for why this person is a good option. Promises for the future are invalid in this system.
How long can someone keep the membership of the Committee? Until the member resigns, or the majority of the Committee calls this member back, or until the majority of the people won't renew their membership. There is no automatic time limit of the membership, but there must be a periodic affirmation for the existing members. The membership is earned and must be continuously deserved. A periodical majority vote of the people is necessary to reinforce the current membership of the Committee.
This Committee's primary task is to appoint and call-back high-level community leaders, those who govern society. (The other task is to select the Secretary board.)
In this system, the community leaders are elected without the necessity or even direct possibility of the people. The Committee can select anyone to be a community leader. It is their job, based on their wisdom (with the Secretary board's administrative help), to find suitable persons who will lead and govern the community. Mutually, the community leader is not a forced position, it must be accepted by the preferred candidate.
High-level community leaders can keep their positions without automatic time limits until they resign or are recalled by the Committee. However, these leaders can operate and make decisions without continuous approval by the Committee. The community leaders' decisions may not reduce, modify, alter or in any way affect how the Committee works, and mutually the Committee appoints and recalls community leaders, but may not operatively interfere with how they work and what decisions they make.
This Committee is not for creating rules and laws. Ad-hoc boards selected by the Committee make the rules and laws, but the Ad-hoc boards can create independent and obligatory proposals.
Description of the Model
Voting in the system:
In the outlined system, voting is a daily matter and therefore requires a simple procedure. Voting is tied to a deadline and not a specific date. People can vote at any time before a deadline after the proposition has been issued.The proposals will be accepted by an absolute majority vote. The proposal will be adopted if the absolute majority is in favor before the deadline. Otherwise, the proposal is rejected. There are no actual "no votes", the absence of the vote is enough for a no vote. Therefore the system encourages activity.
People can vote in a letter, in polling rooms electronically, or on the Internet. Common citizens will receive the call for voting, the proposal, and the motion by regular or e-mail, everybody else will receive it by electronic mail. Voting is personal and is secret.
Absolute majority vote:
Fifty percent of all eligible voters plus one vote.
Committee
Anyone can be a member of the Committee chosen by the people, from the people. They are regional representatives of their place of residence, nominated and selected from a particular and given sized population of a region.
They do not receive salaries to be a member of the Committee. After they have been elected, they still keep their previous work and continue their regular life unless the person becomes a Secretary.
Committee members are respected, exemplary living persons, who are known and recognized by the community. The position does not require a specific professional background.
To be considered as a nominee to the Committee, the person’s earlier life must convince the voters of the person's suitability to be a member of the Committee, and not the candidate’s promises about the future, how he or she wants to fulfill the position.
It works on a voluntary basis.
The size of the Committee needs to be determined according to the scale of the total population. The size of the regions should be an average representation of the entire community.
Their tasks:
They monitor and passively supervise the activities of the Government (Community leaders) and the secretarial services.
Based on proposals, they elect and call-back the members of the Government and the Secretariat.
They have the right to call-back a member of the Committee, but they have no authorization to elect a member.
They do not do governmental tasks.
Operating time:
The membership of the Committee is one year, which can be extended unlimited times by the vote of the citizens.
Selection method:
Committee members are chosen by the people, from the people. The selection works on a territorial basis. Voters are divided by territory according to their place of residence, with approximately the same number of electors in each area. Each region can choose one member of the Committee from the people living in that area.
A member who is already a member of the Committee need not be re-nominated after the end of the one-year's term of office; people only need to vote to keep the member in the Committee. Any eligible citizen who lives in the given region may nominate a person to the Committee (except him- or herself).
The nomination must be reasoned. The nomination must be sent to the Secretariat. The Secretariat will conduct the election after an administrative check of the nomination and will check the candidate for acceptance of the nomination.
The eligible citizens elect a new member of the Committee by an absolute majority vote.
Procedure in the case of multiple nominations
People in the district may nominate a person to the Committee at any time. If the term of office of the current Committee member expires, he or she needs to be re-voted in the first round, (if the member wants to keep the seat).
If the current member of the Committee receives an absolute majority at the election, she or he becomes re-elected.
If the Committee’s seat is empty (e.g., because of resignation) or the re-election of the current member of the Committee is not successful, a new person must be elected to the Committee.
Based on the nomination of the residents in the district, a new person needs to be elected to the seat of the Committee. Nominees who were nominated before, but have not been voted for yet, step up. As multiple people can be nominated to a seat on the Committee, a two-level selection process will start.
First, voters vote for all the candidates at the same time, and a voter can vote for only one candidate.
If someone gets the absolute majority in the first round, the selection is over. If no one gets the absolute majority, the second level of the election begins. In the decreasing order of the votes, the residents of the district vote for the candidates separately, in succession, one at a time.
The first person who receives the absolute majority will be the new member of the Committee.
If nobody gets the absolute majority on the second level, a new nomination process will begin. In the new nomination, anyone can be nominated again, even those who have been previously defeated.
Campaign
Candidates proposed to be members of the Committee may not be campaigning for their election. The campaign is contradictory to the concept of the proposed system, as the candidates must be judged based on their past and present activities, not on their plans for the future, and therefore the campaign is exclusionary in the selection process.
The Secretariat prepares an introduction about the nominee - with the help of the candidate - to introduce him or her on the basis of the concept of the system, including why the candidate accepted the nomination.
The introduction is publicly accessible to anyone.
Call-back:
The Committee can call-back Committee members before the mandate expires by an absolute majority vote. Any member of the Committee may initiate a call-back at any time. After a successful call-back, a new member of the Committee must be elected.
The person who was called back can be nominated again. If a member was recalled three times by the Committee and reelected again by the people, a new person must be nominated.
In the case of a rejected call-back, an automatic call-back procedure is initiated against the member or members who initiate the original recall.
Organizational structure:
The Committee is an organization without hierarchy and office. Their operation does not require a joint meeting. The Secretariat, if necessary for special occasions, may unite the body.
Operation:
Committee members serve as watchdogs. They passively supervise the Government's operation. They do not interfere in specific issues, but if they see it necessary, any Committee member can initiate a call-back of a Government member. They do not participate in the day-by-day governmental tasks.
If necessary, they may request the establishment of an Ad-hoc expert board.
They have approval and recall role. They can initiate nominations and call-backs and they can approve these.
The Secretariat coordinates their tasks.
Secretaries
Persons designated by the Committee from the Committee, and a body of these individuals. The position needs acceptance from the nominated.
There may be a given number of Secretaries. Each Secretary position must be filled.
The elected Secretary resigns from the membership of the Committee.
Their tasks:
They are doing administrative assistance to the Committee. This is a paid position that requires continuous work.
Their task is to coordinate nominations (Committee, Secretary, Government). They request for recommendations, provide an administrative review, administrative acceptance, and further submission to voters.
Operating time:
Their mandate is for one year, or until they are called-back or resigned. They can be re-elected several times.
Selection method:
They are elected by the Committee with an absolute majority vote.
A person who is currently a Secretary does not need to be re-nominated for a new term of one year's mandate but must vote for her or him for re-election.
Any member of the Committee may nominate a Secretary from the Committee (except him- or herself) to be Secretary. The nomination is not confidential. The nomination must be reasoned.
The nomination is sent to the Secretariat. The Secretariat will conduct the voting after administrative checking of the nomination and check the candidate's acceptance of the nomination.
The Committee vote for the Secretary.
Call-back:
The recall operates according to the selection procedure. Any member of the Committee may initiate a call-back at any time.
Organizational structure:
Secretary and his or her office. Secretariat board where joint decisions are made.
Operation:
Requests for different nominations from the relevant groups as needed.
Secretaries check whether the nomination meets the administrative requirements (which are objectively and administratively necessary to be a nominee).
Secretaries accept the nomination by an absolute majority vote. If the nomination is rejected, they notify the nominating group of voters of the reason for the rejection.
After the acceptance of a candidate, the necessary election is conducted and organized by the Secretaries.
Government (Ministers)
Governance. A panel of professionals, carrying out day-by-day operational tasks.
The Government does not have a leader; it is made-up of equal members, who are responsible for their particular field of expertise.
They only have a Spokesperson.
The number of ministers and the composition of the Government may vary.
Their tasks:
Doing professional management by the ministry.
Selection method:
The Government can claim with an absolute majority vote a new Government area for which a suitable person needs to be found.
Based on the recommendation by professional organizations, and based on professional activities, the Secretariat coordinates the nomination of the person.
The Committee has to approve the acceptance of the candidate by the vote of the absolute majority.
The Government must accept the elected new Government member.
Operating time
Members of the Government keep their position until their resignation or recall. There is no fixed operating time for the members of the Government and no need to re-elect the members of the Government.
Call-back
Any member of the Committee may initiate the call-back of a member of the Government. The Committee decides on a recall by an absolute majority vote. If the absolute majority declines the call-back, an automatic recall procedure starts on the initiating person of the recall (vote of confidence).
The Government may also initiate a call-back of a Government member if the absolute majority of the Government rejects the acceptance of the Government member's recent work at the Government meeting. In this case, no recall procedure will be launched for the members of the Government voting against the Government member's work, which starts the recall.
Operation:
The Government performs its work in accordance with the professional fields. The tasks require professional and non-political activity. The number of Government members is not fixed. New Government members can be requested in any area, even on a temporary basis or for a temporary field.
Government personals are experts in charge of their field of expertise. They are paid for their work. Under them, there is an administrative and executive organization. Their function is that of the traditional minister. They carry out their duties independently, but in coordination with other Government members.
Coordination between Government members is ensured by Government meetings. At the meeting, Government members report on their recent activities. The Government votes by an absolute majority on the acceptance of the work of each member of the Government, and negotiate and plan their activities until the next Government meeting.
Government meetings are open to the Committee. Members of the Committee may attend the meeting as observers, but cannot assist, intervene or interfere in any way. The Government meetings are recorded and can be reviewed by the Committee members.
The Government chooses a Spokesperson, independently from the Committee. The selection is assisted by the Secretariat. The Government members approve or recall the Spokesperson by an absolute majority vote. The Spokesperson's job is to provide a communication interface to and from the Government members.
The Committee cannot interrogate Government members. The Committee passively checks the work of the Government.
Ad-hoc boards
Temporarily set up, professional counseling bodies. Their proposal is binding. A board may have 3-7 members.Their tasks
They provide a specific, professional proposal for the task that needs to be implemented. Create laws and rules.
Selection method
Any member of the Committee or Government can initiate the formation of an Ad-hoc advisory board for a particular topic. The establishment of an Ad-hoc board needs to be adopted by an absolute majority vote of the Committee.
Recommendations to a member of the Ad-hoc board have to be coordinated by the Secretariat, based on the criteria of the designated task of the Ad-hoc board. The Committee needs to accept the members of the Ad-hoc board by the vote of an absolute majority.
Operating time
The Ad-hoc advisory board will work until its task is done and after that, it will be automatically disbanded.
Call-back
The members of the board cannot be called-back after they are selected. The Ad-hoc board may be dissolved but only before submitting their proposal. The dissolution is triggered by an absolute majority vote of the Committee. The Ad-hoc board may dissolve itself by an absolute majority vote of the board members.
Operation:
The Ad-hoc board works independently. Either the Committee or the Government must not influence their work. The Ad-hoc board may ask questions to the Committee through the Secretariat or to the Government through the Spokesperson. The Ad-hoc board's proposal must be accepted.
People (Common citizens)
A community or a group of people eligible for election. Those entitled to vote will be placed in an electoral district, organized regionally. It is a necessary condition for the people of the constituencies to have concrete experience with the candidate or elected members. Residents in the given electoral district should mutually be a part of the Committee member’s social and partially, their private life.
The universality of the system makes it possible not only to establish a general, urban, national governance system but also to govern social and professional groups. In this case, the people are members of the given social or professional groups.
Their task:
They are continuously watching who can be a suitable member of the Committee from the district, and they nominate the potential members to the Committee. They elect the Committee members by an absolute majority vote. They are attentive to the activities of the regional Committee member, but they cannot call-back a Committee member. However, they can choose not to renew if the term expires.
Operation:
They can continuously nominate members to the Committee. They confirm the member of the Committee or choose a new one by an absolute majority vote.
Laws
All political, social systems are based on laws. Existing systems usually have priority laws that require higher or stronger approval, and laws that are approved by the simple majority of the legislators.
The rules of any political, social system cannot be conclusive, so every system undergoes the continuous revision and adaptation of operational rules to constantly changing situations. The proposed system also has a two-tier system of laws.
Core laws
These laws are related to the operation and base functions of the system. Since these laws determine the operation of the system, their change requires a particular procedure. A misguided change can fundamentally jeopardize the operation of the system.
Core laws are the rules that were described previously. In these cases, if there is a need for change, it can be modified only after extensive consultation. Widespread coordination, even if it does not guarantee it, may reduce the likelihood of errors.
At the same time, it must be ensured that the core legislation system is not completely rigid, and a small group cannot tamper with the changes. Still, the procedure must not lead to a lengthy process, and the change can take effect on a short deadline.
The process of changing the core laws:
- Any member of the Committee can initiate the change of core law. The request for change must be sent to the Secretariat together with justification.
- The Secretariat determines if there is indeed a legal change that affects the core laws.
- The Secretariat will send the proposal to the Committee with the label of the core law change.
- The members of the Committee vote name-by-name on the motion on a mandatory basis.
- The electoral districts can approve the vote of its members of the Committee by an absolute majority vote.
If the absolute majority vote of the electoral district is effective, the vote of the Committee member of the district becomes valid.
If the absolute majority vote of the electoral district is ineffective (the majority does not approve the decision of the member of the Committee), the vote of the respective member of the Committee on the amendment of the law becomes invalid.
- After the approval of the electoral districts, the votes of the members of the Committee on the amendment to the law will be aggregated. If the amendment has received absolute majority approval from the Committee, the change will take effect on a one-cycle, one-year trial.
The impact of the laws can never be safely known, so it is important that the effect of the core law change is applied to probationary time, and must be re-approved. The probationary law has the same right as the final law. The probationary law is only different from the one which has been finally accepted in that it must be re-approved.
- Probationer time core law should be finalized when the probationary time expires. The finalization procedure is the same as the probation procedure. If the finalization does not get absolute majority acceptance from the Committee, the change of the law will be discarded.
Regular laws:
All laws, rules, and regulations that are not related to the operation of the system. These laws are all the same in weight. All changes are made according to the same procedure.
The process of changing the regular laws:
- Any member of the Committee or Government can initiate the change of law. The request for change must be sent to the Secretariat with justification.
- The Secretariat determines if it is a legal change and does not affect the core law.
- It is the duty of an Ad-hoc board to change the regular, non-core laws. The Secretariat will initiate the procedure for setting up an Ad-hoc board.
- The Ad-hoc board will create a change of law that will apply automatically and compulsorily.
Transition to the new governance system
It is necessary to specify a process of transfer from an old governance system to this new system.Steps of the transition:
1. A referendum is made where the absolute majority of the citizens vote for the transition.
2. The existing legislative body elects the Secretaries from the citizens (based on voluntary commitments) by a four-fifths majority.
3. The existing legislative body ceases, the existing Government functions as government charge d'affaires.
4. Committee members are selected with the help of the Secretaries by regional referendums.
5. The Committee designates the Government.
6. Old Government finishes its work. The new system is set up.
In the case of a global governance system (where the members are the countries of the global organization), the countries which are considering joining the global governance system need to make a referendum with an absolute majority vote by their citizens to decide to join the system. The positive poll would mean the acceptance of the rules of the governance model by the country to belong to this global community. In this case, there is no need to change the country's political structure, but probably the poll should show that evidence to the politicians of the country, too. Regular voting (biennial would be satisfying) is needed to reinforce the membership to the global governance community.
The global problem
The proposed model is based on peer cooperation, between participants representing the same rights. The outlined system can be generally used to manage specific, local, national tasks, and challenges. At these levels, equal participants (citizens or members of an organization) are the basic participants of the system.
At the global level, handling global challenges requires cooperation between countries. How can substantially different countries be peer members in a global governance model? In the global case, the basic participants are the countries. The countries must have the same rights, although they may have different influences on triggering and solving problems.
The problem of inequality persists even if the participants are equal citizens. Inequality between people is the most significant cause of social tensions.
THE PRIMARY AIM OF THE PROPOSED GOVERNANCE MODEL IS TO PROVIDE A VIABLE GOVERNMENTAL SYSTEM FOR EQUAL, YET DIVERSE PARTICIPANTS.
Another problem on the global scale is that the cooperating countries, which, in this way, act as a complex but a become-one-contiguous organization represents legality and right-to-action above the member countries. Such global organizations are usually attacked by the lack of legitimacy by the countries with interest grievances in the system.
In the recommended model, the global problem and the objection against global decisions can be avoided because the operation of the system allows countries with different sizes and influences handled as equals in the system.
It can be permissible for the countries, which belong to the recommended global scale governance system to send an equal number of members into the Committee, regardless of their population, or economic size, and this way, represent themselves in the Committee equally. Still, the system can work and can make over-the-countries decisions.
This statement is based on the following argument:
The Committee's task (with the Secretaries) is to select the members - experts in a given field and not political representatives - to the Government, which is doing the operative management, and to the Ad-hoc boards, which are creating the rules and laws. These members' selection is based on their earlier professional activities, which is a reliable background for finding solutions to challenges.
It is in the interest and ability of the members of the Committee to choose suitable persons in these groups.
Why would a "significant" country, representing itself only in the same weight in the Committee as other countries, accept the decisions of the Committee, and the Committee selected Government and Ad-hoc boards?
The task of the Committee is to approve and passively supervise the global (in the global case) Government, Secretaries, and Ad-hoc bodies. Committee members do not perform specific operational management activities.
Countries are not losing their importance in the Committee because the Committee does not do operative tasks. The Committee only selects the professional experts to do executive management.
Still, countries could worry that their favorable expert will not be in an operative decision-making position. The executive management is an expert job with objective conditions. Only political interest would worry about the decisions of these boards.
Can the political interest and influence prevent or restrain global governance to work? Not significantly, because of the citizens of the country. Political interests can be negligible by the citizens. The given country is already in this governance system, the citizens have chosen that way. As long as the country is in this system - respecting the rules governing the election which selects the members of the Committee, and accepting the decisions of the Committee -, they can be equal. The Committee works independently from the sender countries.
Why would a country want to join global governance? The successful operation could convince the citizens to join the system. This governance model can operate in different communities and can prove its promises to handle challenges. The governance system can work in any size, so it is open to the same level communities and easy to be joined, too. The recommended governance system can start on small and develop largely.
Would not only small countries join because the bigger countries suffer in interest validation? No, because of the reason mentioned before. Citizens of the more "significant" countries can see the system operation, and if it is successful, the country will want to join the governance. If the recommended system cannot prove its promises, it will not be worth joining it anyway. This model is a new approach to solve social challenges, an experiment that may be worth trying.
Global vs. local challenges
Global challenges and local challenges affect and mostly create each other. In this way, they should mean the same importance when we are categorizing challenges. However, they have the same importance, not just because of the relational effect.
For example, local, globally unimportant, frequent traffic congestion can affect the residents' life and cause dissatisfaction even more than global warming or war in another country. This way the local and the global challenge should have similar attention, importance, and solution methods even if they are cared about and cured on different levels. If the society leaders handle the local and global challenges with similar importance and solution methods, the members of the society remain similarly active and caring with the global challenges even if they may not cause actual local challenges.
The universality of the system
The system can operate on local, national, global, and special-purpose levels. The system's size-independent structure is comprised of principal procedures that ensure that the system works independently from its size, and provides competency to the system participants on any level.
Handling challenges
Social challenges can be at different levels of society. Usually, they appear at multiple levels at the same time. Today's most significant social problems influence all levels of society and cause problems that need to be solved.The situation is made more difficult by the fact that the global challenges at the different levels of society can appear as a different problem, and therefore different solutions need to be found. Often, challenges at different levels of society have unrecognized connections, and the system needs to be able to solve today's not even existing challenges. Therefore, it is necessary to find a solution that can be applied universally and at different levels of society.
The recommended system, since it does not offer concrete solutions, only procedures for addressing the challenges, and as this system can be universally applied at all levels of the society, can be a suitable and effective tool to tackle today's and the future's societal challenges, too.
Let us look at how the proposed system works, once its structure has been built, to see if it is operational and ready to solve the challenges and manage society.
The system consists of the following elements:
Regionally organized society
This can mean local and larger, global communities. A community organized on a territorial basis represents the broad structure of society at the same time.Interest:
Problems and challenges are at this level. It is in the interest of the regional communities to solve these problems.
Competence:
They can choose who represents their interests. They are directly aware of who is a suitable person in a community, who is physically nearby and can serve their interests (choose a Committee member).
In general, they cannot directly influence the choices made by their representative, which is the competence of the representative. They cannot directly control what measures the Government is taking to address the problem.
Because their direct involvement is limited in decisions, it is in their interest to choose the right person for a representative.
Committee members
Interest:
As a representative of the local social group, she or he has direct experience of the nature of the problems and their effects on the community. They are directly interested in solving problems at the local community level, too. The group of representatives represents the whole community together.
They are not interested financially in holding their status, but they are interested in maintaining their public and morally respected status, recognized by the members of the community. They are interested in maintaining their previous lifestyle, which they became members with. They are interested in that the community will be satisfied with their choices.
Competence:
They can select, passively supervise, and recall the members of the groups (Government, Ad-hoc boards) who are responsible for making decisions that will help resolve problems.
They cannot directly influence what measures the Government and Ad-hoc board take to address this problem.
Because their direct involvement is limited in the decisions, it is in their interest to choose the right person for the member of the Government and Ad-hoc boards.
Government member
Operational specialists and managers of the given area, performing the concrete control, and executing the operative tasks.Interest:
They are existentially interested in performing their mandate at the best possible level. They are socially recognized persons in their field.
Competence:
They make concrete management decisions following existing rules. They are experts selected by the Committee. They have no leader. They make decisions as equal partners.
They cannot make rules for their operation. They can only ask for rule changes. Activities done by them in their field of expertise are carried out individually, independently from the Committee that makes their selection. Necessary coordination is carried out by the Government's board.
An active evaluation of the work of the members of the Government (opinion on certain decisions), and the possible call-back of a member of the Government is a power of the Government, but the Government does not have the right to nominate a new member of the Government and has no consent right on the nomination.
The passive evaluation of the work of the members of the Government and the possible call-back of a member of the Government is the task of the Committee (the concrete decisions cannot be commented). Only the Committee is entitled to elect a new member of the Government.
Ad-hoc board member
A temporarily created expert body. The board makes proposals for rules and laws.Interest
Ad-hoc board member is the theoretical engine for solving societal challenges. Their knowledge and competence are the defining force of the direction of the development of society.
Competence
They are highly acclaimed experts and educators of their scientific field. The board's decision is binding.
They are not involved in the execution. Their selection is made by the Committee and is based on their existing scientific work. Their role in the governance of the society ceases after their decision is made.
The decision model
Let's say that society faces an impact that affects the function of the community, and it requires a reaction from society.1. Identifying the problem
Problems affecting the society are primarily recognized at the level of the Committee and the level of the Government, where the partial or full oversee of the society is guaranteed. Identifying the problem is in many cases, not a simple task. One or more members of the Committee or Government can give a signal to the emergence of a social problem.
2. Leveling the problem
The Government analyzes the problem.
The Government can evaluate whether the Government has already handled similar problems or whether the problem can be handled by existing methods.
The Government can evaluate whether the problem is a new one, in which case they need to develop a new procedure to solve the problem. The Government asks for an Ad-hoc board.
3. Development of the procedure to solve the problem
If a new procedure is needed to be developed for the social problem, the development of the procedure is the task of the most competent professionals, which is the field of an Ad-hoc board.
The Committee receives a request from the Government to set up an Ad-hoc board. The Committee establishes the board. The board will develop the proposed solution to the social problem. The proposal is binding.
4. Solving the problem
The Government receives a proposal from the Ad-hoc board to address the social problem. The proposal cannot be considered and must be implemented. The implementation may require the creation of a new governmental field. In this case, the Government requests a new Government member to the new area from the Committee. The Government must accept the new member.
The decision model is universally applicable to any societal challenge. The interest and competence of the participants in the decision process are separated. The mechanism of tackling the challenge is working at all sizes of society. The most competent participants are involved in the decision-making process, and in the implementation of the solution at all levels. By creating and separating decision levels, an effective, self-reliant operation is ensured.
Evaluation
Core values
How can a social system, which is based on the principle that everybody is the same but still everyone is actually different, operate? How can everyone be equal when ability and knowledge make them suitable for different tasks? Is it necessary to subordinate democracy to consider differences?
Historical experiences and many bad examples show that the best approach is to accept the differences. What makes us equal is that we can all participate in the life of society and the community, according to our abilities. Equally, but not the same.
The proposed system builds on diversity, on people with different abilities, and still, all the people govern society. There is no group of society left out of control and decision-making. Also, the system requires active participation from the people in the governance, as it requires active participation in the elections.
Even if citizens are in different levels of control - according to their abilities -, the transit between the various groups is unobstructed. Anyone can be a member of any group with proper abilities (which are related to the person's past and present life) if they can convince the voters that they are suitable for the given task.
What is the assurance in the system that the correct decisions are made to solve the problem? In social systems, the impact and outcome of the decisions are never entirely certain. We can only pursue that the most suitable people make the decisions on different levels, by the best of their knowledge. However, it still allows the system to correct its mistakes.
The proposed system works this way: appropriateness of the person is the primary aspect of the selection at each decision level. Also, the ability is not determined by future promises, but by performance in the candidate's past and present.
In the proposed system, decision-makers are interested in making the best decisions because the consequences of their decisions have direct and continuous approval. Anybody can be selected for a position, but anybody in a position can be called back, too.
Even these conditions cannot guarantee the right decisions. If the system is not suitable for fixing errors, it cannot serve the common good. On many occasions, the wrong decisions do not even seem defective immediately. In fact, wrong decisions can be good decisions in the short term, while in the long term they can cause problems. It is very difficult to avoid these kinds of wrong decisions.
In a complicated system, like a society, it might not even make sense for a decision to be correct, beyond that the best suitable person with the best knowledge at that given time made it. The social decision-making system must be able to address the challenges adaptively, while being flexible, being able to respond quickly to different changes. The task separation and the decision independence of the different decision levels create this flexibility in the governance model.
The most dangerous obstacle in social systems is if the system stalls when the feedback in the system ceases or becomes ineffective. In social systems where there is no feedback or it is ceased between the decision-making levels, the system becomes rigid and resilient to change. In such systems, interests are fixed and rooted, which necessarily leads to more autocratic governance.
The proposed system is based on flexibility and feedback. These properties are substantial and fundamental ingredients of the system. The most powerful, most difficult-to-modify component of the model is specifically the procedures that are used to maintain flexibility and feedback.
The essential elements of the proposed system are the control among the decision-making levels, the changeable participants in the decision-making levels, and the separation of the interest and competency in the model. In the proposed system, since the procedures are firmly fixed and can only be altered by broad social consensus, the authority, which could sustain itself and thus become self-serving, cannot rise.
Decision-Making Capacity
Failure of the democratic governance systems is usually caused by slow decision-making capacity. Many of the participants - without the expertise and with a desire for power and influence - are fighting with each other constantly and selfishly for their perceived or real interests, calling that democracy.
Democratic values demand reconciliation of interest and procedures for conflict of interest handling. This, however, should not be a self-destined, but a forward-looking process. Reconciliation of interests cannot work effectively among closed-interest groups. Interest handling must be for the whole society. Interest validation should not be the pursuit of self-interest but must be based on the knowledge of experts in the given field. In addition, professional decisions only make sense when they are actually implemented, and the decisions are not debatable by bystanders.
In the proposed system, these requirements are met. In the model, the highest level of competence is involved in the decision-making process. The decisions are not determined by the competing interest groups, but cooperating experts, to avoid endless debates this way.
Since the approval of the competence is made before the decision-making phase, implementation of the decisions can begin immediately after they are made. The correctness of the decisions cannot be questioned by the obstruction of the opposing groups.
Of course, the proposed system may also make erroneous decisions. They are inherent in any decision-making process. If the decision that is defective is based on the intended purpose of resolving the problem and made by the person' or persons' (who are experts in the field of the problem, and can produce the most appropriate decision) best knowledge, the relative correctness of the decision cannot be questioned. In the proposed system, participants involved in the process are interested in making the most appropriate decisions, and selected according to their abilities, considering their past and their proven knowledge.
Even under these conditions, it is possible that not the right person is selected for a specific decision-making position. In this case, the system includes the call-back function. Selected persons at all decision-making levels can be recalled under a well-defined procedure. The protection of the system's procedures and the institution of the call-back prevents the system from shifting to the autocratic direction.
Effectiveness
The mechanisms of the proposed system are independent of the size of the social groups. The system is suitable for managing local and global challenges, too. In this model, different societies do not require different procedures. The given, specific society determines the mandate of the contributing participants in the governance system. The mandate represents the sending society's and the decision-making participants' authority as well.
The biggest obstacle to addressing global challenges is that it requires over-the-nations decisions. Although all global challenges involve local problems and their management, global decisions are also needed to address global challenges effectively. The procedures of the recommended system are working at a global level, too. In this case, however, there is a legitimacy problem. Countries which have equal rights in global governance may cause or may be involved differently in the global challenges due to their location, size, and development, or take a different view on how to solve the problems. This can mean different burdens to the countries solving the challenges, which they may not do.
In countries, confrontations with equal rights and different obligations can be, and is, utilized by populist politicians in order to gain or to increase power, making it more difficult for the global challenge to be solved.
The proposed system can handle diversity in equality at the country level as well, like how it is handled on the citizen's level. Different countries, regardless of size and level of development, can participate in the system as equal partners if they accept the rules and procedures of the governance model. Under the system's operation, by separating interests and competencies, the system can create acceptable decisions among countries with equal-rights, based on professionalism and not on political gain, and can set different problem-solutions for different countries. Under the rules of the system, the decisions are binding on the given social group, including the countries, too.
The necessity of an efficient operation does not assure cooperation between countries. To assure that the various countries are involved in the governance system - which means it is acceptable for the citizens and for the political leadership of each country - the efficiency of the system must be visible and should be demonstrated. Since the system's procedures function on small and large societies, the system can be implemented systematically, from small to large. If the system demonstrates its effectiveness and its success in a smaller society, this will simplify its global introduction. The citizens and the politicians may be convinced of the rules of the system being adopted and thus enter the system.
Resources and Financing
The proposed system does not introduce new organizations. Existing democratic systems already have similar institutions, which are required in the proposed governance model. The recommended system only transforms the existing platforms under the new operating rules into a more efficient and rationally functioning system. In this way, the recommended system can be funded more efficiently, with less intensive resources. Decision-making mechanisms are simplified in the model, making resources and funding easier to implement than in regular systems.
In the proposed system, the new element is the way the voting is conducted, and the frequency of voting. The proposed system emphasizes electronic voting, which is cheaper and more effective than traditional voting methods. Today's electoral systems are developing in that direction anyway.
Trust and Insight
The proposed system has an easy-to-oversee structure. It treats equality and diversity and separates interests from competence. The selection mechanism refers to the past and present activities, not to future promises. The proposed system ignores the campaigning and with this, the promises. No place for untenable promises thus makes the whole system more reliable.
In social systems, the reasoning on which the decisions are made is not always clear and understandable for everyone in society. In general, it is not even necessary to stick to it. It can be replaced by the trustfulness in the system.
In existing social systems, politicians use reasoning to mislead the argument by using half-truths to gain social acceptance. Politicians can obtain social support with populist argumentation to make any decision accepted. Reasoning and persuasion have unfortunately lost their true function in today's politics.
The proposed system overcomes this problem by avoiding the loss of credit, and by making the decisions in today's political system not trustworthy because they are not acceptable or understandable by everyone. The decisions in the recommended system are based and trusted on the matter of professional perfection. Political interests do not prevail, so confidence in the decisions is not given by the society, by the acceptance of the possible misleading explanations, but by the trust of the expertise and self-interest exemption of the decision-makers.
Flexibility
Every social governance model must have the flexibility to change on demand according to the changing circumstances. The flexibility, however, should not have the ability to transform the system to such an extent that it would change how the system functions.
The proposed system has two levels of control (laws) that define its flexibility. The first applies to the mechanisms needed to operate the system. Changing these rules requires great caution and broad social consensus, so the process of the change works under a more complex mechanism.
The second level of the rules is the regulations that do not relate to the system processes. This level requires maximum flexibility; it requires expertise concerning the given area of the field rather than social consensus. This level is a dynamically changing environment. The easy and precise adaptability of the corresponding rules ensures the social system's adaptability to the external and internal changes. On this level, the model for the fast adaptability has a simpler approval mechanism.
It is important to emphasize the difference between the two levels. The first level refers to the operation of the system, which is the essential basis of the system. Therefore, it should be protected as far as possible from faulty changes. The second level of the laws is the specific subjects of the dynamically changing social system and its environment, and therefore, must be sufficiently flexible and adaptable.
Protection against the Abuse of Power
The risk of the abuse of power exists when a system permits - in its lawful operation - to transform its laws, structures, and organizations - so that it is made possible to create a power center that can change the system in the way in which it changes its operations and functions.
A dedicated control system has risks because its malfunction, deliberate, or accidental alteration would make the control of power ineffective. The control of power works well where the control is not provided by a dedicated subsystem but comes from the operation of the system itself.
The recommended system is like this. In the proposed governance model, many functions ensure that no one-person or group-related over-power situation exists in the system. The following features of the model support the limitation of power concentration and the abuse of power:
- In the system, the executive, legislative and nominating power-groups are separated and do not directly influence each other's operations, as they cannot interfere with each other's activities defined by the system.
- The rules of operation of the system, the core laws, are strongly safeguarded from any erroneous change.
- The institution of call-back exists and functions among and within the power-groups.
- Political power is based on professional competence in the system. Every power-group, people, Committee, executive, the legislator has the political power appropriate to its professional competence and cannot bypass it in the governance system.
- The operation of the system is based on absolute majority votes.
- The power-groups have no single leadership. The operation is based on majority consensus.
In the system, these mechanisms ensure the restriction of the abuse of power.
Accountability
"It is a fundamental requirement of a successful governance model that it performs the tasks it has been charged with, and the governance model must include the power to hold the decision-makers accountable for their actions."
Yes, it is fundamental. However, accountability is a dangerous area in any governance system because it can be easily abused. Every performer in the system needs to be accountable for their actions. However, as it happens many times, participants in the governance systems attack each other untruthfully on the base they do not do the assigned tasks appropriately. Accountability and the protection of functionality must be applied simultaneously.
In the recommended system, accountability appears without risking functionality. The acting participants do not need the approval of every single act they make. They can work independently. Approvals happen before the acceptance of the person, and later when that person works. All the elected are accounted continuously based on their overall performance and not on their specific decisions. If a person is trusted on his or her earlier activity and work and elected by this, then it is enough if that person is accounted for only his or her overall performance.
Any elected can be recalled; there are official procedures for that. Still, the decision-makers can work without obstruction, because their concrete decisions cannot be questioned; they are the selected experts of their field. Still, they can be called back, but only by majority vote. This way the system can keep its stability and functionality with accountability.
Final words
Society is a dynamic structure with new and ceasing parts, as it is handling its challenges as a dynamic and evolving structure. This way the described mechanism is not a rigid structure, but a possible framework, a radically different approach to handle society challenges on every level.
Most of the current community leaders may not be interested in this kind of reform because there would be a risk to lose their power. However, the need for a change in today's democratic system is evident and necessary. The advantage of this system is that it can work on many different levels; it can be used not only to handle global issues to prove its effectiveness but can also be introduced systematically, handling even special tasks. The new and old methods can live next to each other.
A not selected entry of the Global Challenges Foundation's New Shape Prize
No comments