It is not enough that the future is built, it must be built for us. We must now learn a lesson for our next hundred years; it is not enough that the future is built for us, it must be built by us.
This pamphlet sets out a vision of how we can revive local democracy in Scotland. Informed by what people have told ERS Scotland about how they want to participate in their local democracy, the authors re-imagine what a truly local, participatory and powerful democracy could look like. The pamphlet builds on deep research and work with voters in Scotland about ways to meaningfully involve them in the vital decisions that affect them and their communities. There is also concerning new polling that suggests people feel less and less that they have meaningful influence over the decisions that affect them – 1 in 5 people in Scotland think party donors are the most influential force when it comes to shaping public policy.
Given we are living in a time when people are becoming more divided politically and socially, Sullivan and Mitchell identify that continuing with the current status quo carries many more risks for democracy than even big changes. The systems of governance we have in place are not good enough for enough of us, and are not up to the challenges and complexity of the 21st century. In line with the Declaration on Local Democracy as agreed at the Democracy21 conference, any upgrading of these systems must involve citizens and communities themselves.
The onus is now on communities and political leaders to change the momentum and nurture democratic initiatives and institutions that connect people and give them a sense of empowerment. This can take a number of forms, such as selecting people by sortition to sit on citizens assemblies where they debate local policy in depth and feed into local councils’ decision-making. These short roles would be paid and people selected in a way that represented all sections of the community. In time, these and other democratic bodies and initiatives could create a ‘honeycomb’ of democratic layers that give communities a continued and meaningful say over the decisions that affect them.