A weblog with random thoughts and reflections on society and ecology.
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Tuesday, December 24, 2002
Citizen Councils
I am reading Tom Atlee's book "The Tao of Democracy" where he describes various forms of citizen councils.
Citizen councils may be one of the best tools we have for in terms of deepening our democracy. There is significant room for improvement in the forms of democracies we have today, which are often characterized by low citizen involvement. The structure is such that active citizen involvement in the decision making process is difficult and discouraged. It is no wonder there is so much dissatisfaction with the government, also reflected in low voter turnout.
Creating a structure for active citizen involvement is an important step in the right direction. And citizen councils is a proven, effective and low-cost way of doing it.
Citizen councils are temporary entities. Their purpose is to explore and (often) to make a recommendation on an issue of importance to the wider community. The members of the council are selected to reflect the demographics and range of views of the wider community, and they are assisted when needed by trained facilitators. They have access to information from a range of experts.
It is a model that has been used with success in a range of countries and settings. The councils can help us reach creative win-win solutions. They also tend to gain broad support as a wide range of views are represented in the councils. I think the benefits are many, including demonstrating a different and more inclusive way of approaching difficult issues.
There is more information on Tom Atlee's Co-Intelligence Institute website.
11:33
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