Citizens dismissed by haughty officials

Every now and then an incident where the voices of ordinary people are by officialdom catches my eye. And let us not forget, given the difficulty and costs connected with organizing resistance to the edicts and regulations issued by the different levels of government, from the EU down to the village/city/ward, only a very small number of worthwhile causes ever make it to receive proper backing by the citizens that are affected. Introduction of mandatory Direct Democracy on all levels of Government would put power back where it belongs - to the citizens!
Rayleigh Action Group

Initiative calls for lowering 5 per cent hurdle in Zurich town council

Many countries have a minimum hurdle that parties have to exceed before they are allocated seats in the national or local parliaments. Now there is a new initiative in the City of Zurich that calls for the lowering of the threshold to 2 per cent making it easier for smaller parties to gain a seat in the town council. Without taking a view on the merits of this initiative we are convinced that all constitutional changes should be subject to a vote in a referendum and that it should not be left to the established political parties and politicians to decide what changes are adopted.

How to control Public Sector Pay?

Pay in the Public Sector and for civil servants in general seems to be difficult to control. The reasons are that the people who set pay are often in the same boat as those on the receiving end of pay awards. Therefore the news that Councillors in English Local Government Authorities will be given the veto over the salaries of top civil servants promises not much of an improvement. Only when citizens have a direct say in setting local taxes and spending priorities as well as the setting of pay will the inexorable rise in the number and costs of bureaucrats be checked.

UK Councils vote down public question-and-answer sessions

The furious resistance that established politicians and entrenched bureaucracies will put up against the introduction of proper Democracy can be guessed from the decision of some English councils after they voted against introducing public questions at meetings. Tha even this very tame and timid effort to bring more accountability into local politics has been blocked shows how frightened local politicians are about the threat of having more light shone on their activities.

An End to the monolithic 'Nation' State

History shows that states are not eternal entities. Borders have changed continuosly and there is no reason to assume that they will not do so in the future. The main movers may no longer be tribe, race, religion, class or language. Maybe the new dynamics that will influence shifting 'borders' will be ideological - but in the positive sense of the word. China's special economic zones or the City States in medieval Europe point us in the new direction. There are also indications of new thinking behind Free-Market Cities in Honduras. The ruling political class will fight these ideas tooth and nail as it would mean that their power-base - a centralised nation state - would be eroded by competing political entities that would give the citizens a true alternative - by quitting a political unit that they do not wish to support any longer.

Charter Cities - good idea but not so new

Paul Romer's concept of 'Charter Cities' that operate outside the dysfunctional tangle of a country's existing rules is an idea whose time has come and fits in very well with Dirdem's vision of Direct Democracy. But one must remember that the concept is not that new: the city states in Ancient Greece and the independent City-States in Italy and Germany during the Middle Ages were to all intents and purposes precursors of the Charter City that Romer postulates.

Regions

Local politicians in the Bavarian city of Passau are unhappy with their government in Munich and have threatened to attach the town to neighbouring Austria. (21/01/2011)

UK: Largest cities 'offered' a vote on whether to have an elected mayor

Another proposal introduced on a completely arbitrary basis. Who 'approves' this proposal, why are only the 12 largest cities in Britain 'offered' this option?