DEMOCRACY MAX A vision for a good Scottish democracy

It is popular to believe in the apathy of the voting public when it comes to politics. It is popular to believe that the man or woman in the street has no interest in deliberative democratic techniques and the case for a written constitution. And a vox pop conducted on those two issues, described in those terms, would almost certainly bear those theories out.

But people are interested in power. They know when they are denied it. They know when decisions are taken not in their interests, but in the interests of powerful lobby groups, or political parties themselves. They know when politicians act in bad faith. The clichés of, “They’re all as bad each other”, or “They’re all in it for themselves”, may do our parliamentarians a disservice, but those sentiments exist because of a real and deep dissatisfaction with modern politics. It cannot be wished away as ignorance, or railing against authority for its own sake.

Traditional representative democracy is faced with failing confidence, and without the people’s confidence it cannot function. That is why it is important to take the opportunity of the independence referendum to talk about a vision for Scotland’s democracy. To argue not just over whether power should lie in Westminster or Holyrood, but how Scotland can strike out and create new ways of exercising power, in partnership with its people. This third phase of the Democracy Max roundtables has been less concerned with long-term structural change than the previous two. Instead it attempts to identify ways of reaching out and widening the scope of, and audience for, this debate. Change will not happen of its own accord. It is hoped that this inquiry will be an important early step in challenging the political system to deliver on the high hopes that voters still hold for democracy in Scotland.