Last week, San Francisco saw the 2010 Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy, a five-day international event that included the two-day U.S. Conference on Initiative and Referendum.
Due to scheduling conflicts, I was only able to attend on two days and not for very long but made a few good connections nonetheless.
The San Francisco Declaration on Direct Democracy, a statement that was read and released at the conclusion of the event, contains this list of the following three values:
We agree that three values must be applied to direct democracy everywhere: transparency, open access, and deliberation
- Transparency: At every stage of each direct democratic action, and in every aspect of the initiative and referendum process, citizens have a right to know as much as possible about the people and money behind each measure, so long as individuals are protected against coercion and retribution for their votes and for their signatures.
- Open access. Access to the process, especially the qualification of measures for ballots, should be based on measures of substantial popular support – and should not be dependent on money or on the sanction or approval of public officials or political parties or interest groups.
Technology and other innovations should be fully incorporated into the process consistent with the values of expanding access and ensuring transparency.- Deliberation. A deliberative process that is driven by and managed by citizens themselves should be part of every direct democracy. We believe that the most important factors in deliberation are the ability to hear multiple views from all sides – and the time to consider each direct democratic measure fully.
We cannot stress enough the importance of sufficient time to the health of direct democracy. We are concerned that many direct democratic systems, particularly those in the United States, fail to provide the time necessary for thorough deliberation and open access.
It was a pleasure to follow the active Twitter stream during the conference. A number of issues were brought up that deserve to be looked into in more detail, most notably–from our perspective–with regard to the relation between direct democracy and public participation as well as the role of technology and social media.
As one of the conference’s junior sponsors, we look forward to continuing these conversations.
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