Theme : democracy
- Better a bad ballot than no ballot? Here at Demos we talk a lot about everyday democracy, the idea that people should have their say, not just in elections, but also in the fabric of their day to day lives.But what about everyday democracy for people who don't have any democracy at all? from : faizalfarook 28th July 2008
- Cultural and Artistic Practice and Democratic Participation Last week, I spoke at the launch of Peckham Space, a project run by Camberwell College of Arts that looks at the role or participation in contemporary art.The speech covered a range of topics, in particular that of creative and artistitc production as a democratic space and its potential in relation to politics. You can read a text of the speech, here ... and a podcast of the event will follow soon. from : samjones 27th June 2008
- Contemporary Art and Social Change A couple of months ago, I wrote a review of Provoking Democracy, a book about the role of artisitc production in a democracy.We'll be revisiting this, and other topics, when we speak at the launch of Peckham Space in a couple of weeks. It's a project run by Camberwell College of Arts and promotes participation in contemporary art as a means of social expression.It's at 7.30 pm at Camberwell School of Art ... you can find out more details here and here from : samjones 9th June 2008
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Engaging engagement
Engagement is an art, and much like any art it requires practice and exercise. At Demos, we’ve been working with a new Canada-based organisation called Mass LBP. It claims to be reinventing public consultation and its premise is a simple one: that much as anyone should expect to perform jury duty at some point in their life, so everyone should expect at one point or another to be called upon to deliberate and feed into public consultation. The idea is that such consultation, such engagement should be near-routine, it should be embedded in the fabric of everyday life and the basis for everyday democracy.
from : catherinefieschi 19th May 2008 - Why politicians should always do their homework... On Saturday I attended an excellent mayoral hustings, hosted by the LGBT organisation Stonewall. The three main candidates, along with Sian Berry of the Green Party and Left List candidate Lindsay German gave short presentations and fielded questions ranging from corruption, buses, the Pride festival, the rights of older LGBT people, extremism, Section 28, and providing better transport for disabled people in London.... from : nicolahughes 21st April 2008
- EDI in Brussels We just got back from the launch of the Everyday Democracy Index (EDI) at The Centre in Brussels. It was a chance to test our ideas with a group drawn from Member States, NGOs, index experts and journalists. Margot Wallstrom, the Vice President of the European Commission, in charge of institutional relations and communication, was there to respond. from : kirstenbound 9th April 2008
- Book Review: 'Provoking Democracy: Why we Need the Arts' I've just written a review of Caroline Levine's book, Provoking Democracy: Why we Need the Arts. Overall, it encourages constructive discussion of the relationship between the arts and democracy that goes beyond territorialism and, even if it does leave questions unanswered, that is part of its value, flagging up areas to which policy-makers and cultural professionals must pay greater attention. from : samjones 28th March 2008
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Launch of the Everyday Democracy Index
Yesterday evening Demos was jam-packed for the launch of the Everyday Democracy Index. Paul Skidmore unveiled the first exciting set of results, with an engaging response from Professor Timothy Garton Ash.
Rather than relying solely on traditional democratic indicators like electoral turnout, the EDI also measures how good countries are at empowering their citizens in everyday spheres of life like neighbourhoods and communities, workplaces, public services and even the family.
from : kirstenbound 1st February 2008 - The Commonwealth Gets Teeth The Commonwealth Heads of Government, currently meeting in Uganda, have for once made a good decision. They have (temporarily) booted Pakistan out of the Commonwealth because of the terrible political situation there.So what? You might say. Isn't the Commonwealth just an anacronistic waste of time? Well, for the UK it might not compete with our membership of the G8 or our permanent seat on the UN Security Council. But for many member states of the Commonwealth and their leaders, membership... from : rachelbriggs 23rd November 2007
- How far will Cameron draw the political parallels? While attention has been focused on The Royal Academy in Stockholm the past couple of days for the Nobel prizes, David Cameron should note that there are some even more interesting things going on over in the Riksdag. from : dompotter 19th October 2007