14. Volunteer Democracy

This version of local democracy comes from an idea I mentioned in passing in the localopolis pamphlet - that anyone who wants to should be able to become a councillor.

I was reminded of it by some recent comments by Grant Schapps MP, Minister of State for Housing & Local Government, that the professionalisation of councillors was a worrying trend and that they should be volunteers.

My argument would go like this:

• Local political representatives are there to do a job - it doesn't matter how they are selected it is what they do that matters
• We get very tied up with the idea that representatives have to be elected and this is what makes them legitimate but why?  In ancient Athens they drew lots and we are quite comfortable with that method for selecting juries.  So the method is just a means to an end not an end in itself.
• One of the reasons we use elections and lots is to select the few from the many but this hardly seems to be a problem as far as local councillors are concerned.  Local political parties often struggle to get people onto ballot papers and many seats are uncontested.
• Clay Shirky has recently been talking about a cognitive surplus that social media might be able to harness - in a similar vein what about  focusing on civic surplus and how local government might harness that?  People who are unemployed, retired or just have a little spare time might all want to give being a councillor a go.
• Giving everyone a go at being a local councillor would be an excellent way to raise awareness and understanding of local democracy throughout the community

So why not offer the opportunity of being a councillor to all citizens and, instead of thinking about how we fix the electoral process concentrate on redesigning institutions to accommodate everyone who wants to volunteer?

Here are some thoughts about how it might work in practice:

• Every four years, instead of local elections we have local invitations - letters to all eligible citizens inviting them to volunteer to serve as a councillor
• Volunteers would them be allocated jobs, for example, sitting in council meetings to vote on council decisions, working on scrutiny committees and policy juries, dealing with service problems and complaints - there might be an interesting hook up with the Citizen's Advice Bureau here - after all councillors in 'surgery mode' fulfil a similar advice role.  I'm sure that there are many other roles.
• Representativeness and equality could be addressed from within the pool of volunteers so that their is a reasonable mix of volunteers for each task - this would also promote social cohesion as people from different parts of the community get to interact
• If needed there could still be a formal election for a mayor or similar to facilitate the whole process
• If there are too many volunteers then lots might still be used, or better still, give people one or two year terms of office - even better would be to keep redesigning local government so that everyone can be put to work for the civic good

I think this would also be a neat way to solve the thorny problems associated with combining representative and participative democracy - in fact it's possibly the neatest.

10. The New Civic Arena

Like Real Representation, the New Civic Arena is a summary of some ideas put forward by Gerry Stoker in his book Why Politics Matters.

The 'civic arena' refers to the space between the formal institutions of government and the private lives of citizens. It includes the voluntary sector, the media, public debate, popular campaigns and anything else that forms the environment where citizens experience their citizenship.

Stoker suggests a range of reforms that will strengthen this civic arena and create something new.  The aim is to create the right conditions for what Stoker calls a 'politics for amateurs' to take place.

Stoker’s suggestions come in three parts:

1.  New forms of Citizen Engagement

 There are a wealth of innovative ways that citizens can be engaged. The point is not to advocate any in particular but to promote their use more generally.  Ultimately citizens will decide which innovations will come to the fore by supporting those which they perceive will make a difference and those which can fit easily into busy modern lives. 

In his book Stoker does discuss different types of innovations which he breaks down into:

• Consultative innovations
• Deliberative innovations
• Co-Governance Innovations
• Direct Democracy Innovations
• E-Democracy Innovations

2.  Encouraging ‘Civicness’ and Voluntary Activity

Citizenship can be built in a whole range of ways that do not involve dealing directly with government and other public bodies.  In the New Civic Arena, therefore it is important to encourage 'citizen to citizen' activity through community projects and schemes such as time banks.  These types of initiatives have immediate practical benefits for citizens but they also act as a stepping stone to other forms of more political engagement.

3.  Information Flow and Understanding: Citizen Education and the Media

Reform also needs to extend to the institutions that 'frame' citizenship.  In this case both education for citizenship (for all not just the young) and the way in which the media reports politics.  For the latter Stoker highlights the need for a civic journalism which takes more of an explanatory and public interest approach to the issues.

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The idea of the New Civic Arena has a clear resonance with the concept of the Big Society currently being promoted by the UK Government (See David Wilcox's blog for a proper discussion of the Big Society).  However, whilst the problem that the Big Society seems to be aimed at solving is social needs, the New Civic Arena aims to address political disenchantment.  Nevertheless, the overlap between the two ideas is obvious.