New commission will audit our democracy

Democracy has to contend with a PR problem, writes David Begg , chair of a new group to be launched today

Democracy has to contend with a PR problem, writes David Begg, chair of a new group to be launched today

For those of us living in what are classed as "mature" democracies, the relationship between political engagement and our everyday lives as we sit in traffic jams, juggle bills or worry about a parent going to hospital, seems tenuous to the point of irrelevance. Figures underline this perceived irrelevance - falling voter numbers and rising voter age. According to the CSO, only half of all under-25-year-olds eligible to vote in the last general election did so.

Obvious answers are almost immediately contradicted by events on the ground. Thousands took to the streets a few months ago to protest against a war they considered unjust. Meanwhile hundreds of communities across Ireland are currently making the world feel at home hosting Special Olympics. With all this energy and willingness to participate why is our attitude to our democracy so jaded?

Democracy has a PR problem and it is one the Democracy Commission will have to contend with. Democracy tends to be viewed in light of its institutions - such as parliament - and processes - voting. If these processes or institutions come into disrepute, for example, through the corrupt actions of certain representatives or the use of the term democracy to advance a particular foreign policy agenda, then it is democracy which is damaged.

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What democracy is rarely associated with is its actual definition - people controlling public decisions that affect their lives and exercising control over those who make these decisions on their behalf. Democracy is equality of respect and voice between citizens in the exercise of that control. Democracy is an empowering political concept, real democracy is a permanent process, it has to be constantly recreated.

A new independent Commission on Democracy in Ireland which is being launched today will look at how democracy is working in Ireland and where it is not. The joint initiative of two think-tanks, tasc - think-tank for action on social change, and Belfast-based Democratic Dialogue, the commission will be asking questions such as: How much control do Irish citizens have over the decisions that affect their lives and over those who make the decisions on their behalf? Is there an equality of respect and voice between citizens in this country in the exercise of that control?

The primary challenge for the commission, and anyone else seeking answers to these questions, is where to even start sourcing the answers. One possible avenue is to undertake an "audit" of Irish democracy, to examine what in our political processes and institutions is adding up and what is failing to make the grade. The audit would need to include areas such as the relationship between citizens, the law, and rights and the responsiveness of government to the concerns of citizens.

"Rights" is likely to be a contentious area of inquiry. Human rights have been included in democracy audits carried out in other countries but these have tended to focus on the civil and political. Extending an examination of democracy in Ireland to include social, economic and cultural rights is more contested. Those against the inclusion of such rights argue that these rights are in fact part of the competing agendas clustered around political parties and so are not necessary conditions for democracy.

In response to this view, the question has to be - how can civil and political rights have any value if a person does not have the capacity to exercise them? Or to put it simply - how can I vote if I left school at 14 and am unable to even read the names on the ballot paper? Any real audit of democracy in Ireland then will have to include an examination of economic, social and cultural rights.

Like any other body operating in a politically-related field the commission's big challenge will be to take on apathy and cynicism neither of which are the exclusive preserve of the groups with low participation rates. The commission is determined to go beyond elite conversations, to go out, to listen and to engage.

The post-Nice report of the Referendum Commission provides ample evidence as to just how big a challenge is involved in engaging about politics. In its report it details two pilot information projects - one in Carlow Institute of Technology and the second in an economically deprived area in Dublin's south inner city. Researchers found that despite the special on-campus campaign in CIT, the campaign was only of limited success - the results were ineffective compared to expenditure. Likewise in the inner city campaign, a debate between elected representatives which had been highly publicised through posters and personal networking of community activists failed to attract a single resident.

One response is to say how terrible that is - discussions on lack of participation in the political system tend to be characterised by a certain resigned moralistic tone. Lack of participation is worrying for the future of democracy in Ireland and raises questions about the society we are trying to create. At the same time the political system has to undertake a serious process of self-examination and ask itself some hard questions.

The Democracy Commission aims to listen, it wants to hear what people have to say whether through public meetings, on-line consultation or citizens juries. Over the next two years, the commission is facing a dual challenge: to examine how democracy is working in Ireland and above all to get the message out - democracy is relevant, it's about how political power is exercised, power which affects our choices and shapes our lives.

David Begg is general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and chair of the new independent Democracy Commission which is being launched today. He is a member of The Irish Times Trust.