We are told governing systems like ours are inevitable and irreplaceable, but real, participatory democracy is possible, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
We are told governing systems like ours are inevitable and irreplaceable, but real, participatory democracy is possible
Regardless of which creep beats the other creeps to become the next prime minister, inordinate power will again be granted to someone who should not be allowed anywhere near it. But even if theto replace Boris Johnson had wings and haloes, they still could not govern us well. Society is a complex system, and complex systems can never be sensibly and benevolently controlled from the centre.
He makes a crucial distinction between statecraft and politics. He sees the state as a force for domination and statecraft as the means by which it is sustained. Politics, by contrast, is “the active engagement of free citizens” in their own affairs. He sees the municipality as the place in which we first escaped from tribalism and parochialism and began to explore our common humanity. This is the arena in which we can now evade domination and create “a truly free and ecological society”.
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