Are There Realistic Alternatives to Western Liberal Democratic or Republican Systems?
Liberal democracy and capitalism stand as the cornerstones of our era. While many might argue that these two systems serve to define civilisation, swelling unrest in the West, increasing wealth disparities, and escalating tensions over our precious resources suggest that the time may have come to seek out new solutions.
In nature, evolution is the mark of longevity, and yet we inflexibly cling to the status quo with dogged determination. Is the reason of the relative failure of democracy based on persisting socio-economic inequality? In a time when politics and media are fuelled by negative spin, is it time to shift our attention towards those developing revolutionary new approaches to everything? From monetary systems, to power distribution; from resource management, to the concept of ownership: perhaps a shake up is in order. If we are to enter a new realm of civilisation that brings everyone along for the ride, I’d say it’s about time.
Limiting Factors To Be OvercomeThe implementation of democracy as we now know it, in theory, offers safeguards to the freedom of any given population, and the right to engage in the political process. For it’s many successes, however, the standard Western model draws criticism from across the political spectrum. From the right, we see fear of the erosion of patriotic, moral and religious values, while from the left, frustration dominates in the face of growing economic disparity, and the failure to tackle challenges such as tax evasion, exploitation, and environmental impacts. Wherever you stand on the political slider, it is impossible not to ask: are we missing something here?
Through this current incarnation, we see a steady climb in division, leading to the escalation of religious extremism, while the third world continues to wade through what lingers from the imperialist era. The notion that such a system — that has delivered peace and prosperity to a sizeable proportion of the world’s population — has seen it’s day is certainly a hard pill to swallow. But just as new technologies reinvent the way we live our daily lives, an exploration of ground breaking socio-economic concepts may offer new hope as urgent need for change knocks loudly on the door of our international arena.
From the incremental shifts to be realised by re-imagining the processes by which we choose our governance, to the development of entirely new global systems of being, and back to the transformative approaches that are already taking root in today’s society, there is much to explore. Quoted from material provided by
The Zeitgeist Movement: “We now must work towards a new, emerging paradigm — moving from a period where the central problem was the sharing of scarcity, to the problem now being one of creating and distributing abundance.” So, can it be done?
Alternatives To The Traditional Democratic ProcessWhen we probe the concept that democracy is in crisis, it is easy to imagine that there is no alternative other than repressive autocracy. We can shed this pessimistic stance by recognising that many alternatives have been hypothesised or even put into practice — our species is nothing if not ingenuitive. In 2012, Manuel Feliz-Teixeira of Portugal envisioned “wiki”democracy, which would involve the creation of legislation for governance within a collaborative digital platform, much as Wikipedia pages are made and modified today, doing away for the need of elected leadership all together!
Others have proposed tackling the elective process through ideas such as replacing our electoral systems with models such as approval voting, which would allow voters to throw their weight behind multiple candidates, giving a perhaps more realistic view of overall opinions rather than forcing voters to choose between the party they like most, and the one they feel is most likely to win. From “Range” voting, which is how Olympic champions are made, to “Cellular Democracy” which sees local populations elect representatives, who elect representatives on a broader scale, and so on until overall leadership is formed, there are swathes of alternatives. The notion that voting for a single candidate or party in a constituency based system is the best we can come up with may be a little outdated, to say the least.
Is It Time For A Resource Based Economy?For some, altering the way we choose our leadership does little more than scratch the surface. For those frustrated by seeing how our technological capacity is stunted by the need for profitability, and the toll capitalism takes on resource management, the answer is a Resource Based Economy.
The term was originally coined by Jacque Fresco, the founder of The Venus Project, and it defines the intent to strip away monetary value from resources — namely environmental, technological and human — and declare them all to be the common heritage of all Earth’s inhabitants. The Resource Based Economy movement favours cyclical processes over constant growth, and argues that we have all the technology required to meet our own needs, once we remove the need to pay for, and profit from, food, clothing, housing, medical care, education, and so on. Such a gift-based economy would require a major shift in social norms, as we moved from the scarcity mindset of protecting what’s ours, to the notion of sharing freely, but offers a hugely optimistic view of human potential.
Inspiration On The Ground, TodayWould we need to move a resource based economy for a significant improvement in our governing system to take place? Ironing out the kinks of how to establish such a system effectively is perhaps a gargantuan task. Whether that is our destiny or not, what is certain is that constant growth no longer seems viable, and greater social unrest is inevitable without bold new tactics to mediate the distribution of wealth, and the management of our global means.
Harvard-trained entrepreneur and designer, Stephanie Smith, applied the term “The Third Economy” to the influx of informal exchanges that are beginning to take place following the painful failures of the cash and credit economies. She felt that a new set of values needed to be framed, more attuned with modern communities, both local and virtual. From the sharing of living and work spaces, to the many local barter and give-away systems that are thriving in the digital realm, societies are finding cracks in the conventional socio-economic model through which they can sprout and flourish.
Eyes To The FutureIt is easy to become bogged down by the knee-jerk, reactionary tug of war that seems to dominate our current cultural sphere but, under the surface, innovative ideas are being formed, and finding space to grow. Rather than giving energy to such divisive battles, we can choose to focus our energy on uncovering and getting involved in ideas that can serve us in the future. Each one, a block in the foundation of a political and economic structure that is yet to fully reveal itself to us.
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