Global Comment

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Politeia 2.0 aims to reshape Greek democracy

People at a Politeia 2.0 event

How representative is the electoral system of representative democracy? Evidence shows that voter turnout in established democracies has taken a slump since the ’80s. Voter apathy is directly threatening to democracy, however—the narrower the background, gender or class of elected representatives, the more social ills perpetuate. Greece epitomizes voter apathy: seven years into a recession, it now sees its abstention rate in democratic elections falling to historic lows.

“The Greek Constitution is characterized by a democratic deficit. It does not safeguard fundamental civil rights—which are vested in other democratic countries—because there is no citizen participation in the political decision-making process. Equality before the law, separation of powers and independence of justice are seriously jeopardized under the current Greek Constitution, which grants politicians arbitrary power, and does nothing in the way of protecting the environment, natural resources and common goods.[…]The Greek Constitution is the institutional greenhouse of intransparency, cronyism and poor administration, a good explanation why the productive sector hit rock bottom, the public funds got looted and the crisis counts seven years,” writes an epistle crafted by various civil society organizations* which was recently published and dispatched to the Greek Parliament.

The letter prompts civil society and the individual citizen alike to take an active stand in shaping a new Constitution, and urges the political status quo to recognize the citizens’ right to draft and ratify their Constitution through open, transparent and participatory processes. “We demand a civil Constitution via a co-creation process that will re-inspire lost confidence in politics,”  says Stephania Xydia, Cultural Manager and member of Politeia 2.0, a platform for political innovation aspiring to reinvent democracy in the country that—ironically—bore it.

Lately, there has been a lot of talk about a Constitutional reform on behalf of the government, too. Only a few days ago did Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras outline his proposals for a revised Constitution. Among others, he put forward the direct voting of the President of the Greek Democracy by the electorate in case 200 votes in Parliament are not guaranteed, called for a maximum of two four-year tenures for members of Parliament, suggested a compulsory referendum after the gathering of 500,000 citizens’ signatures, and pointed to the establishment of a Constitutional court. Governmental cycles saw these proposals as a switch towards the “Constitution of the Peoples”, and the opposition saw them as catchy phrases offering nothing substantive. Whatever the case, the Greek political climate seems ripe for aggressive civil society moves like that of the July 16 open letter.

Xydia from Politeia 2.0 agrees: a bottom-up approach in governance can give 2016 Greek democracy—and democracies in general—a much-needed facelift. A social entrepreneur in a sense, she, alongside lawyer and academic Evika Karamagioli and strategic designer Mary Karatza (and others), have been working on Politeia 2.0 since 2012.  Almost instantly, their platform received a European Social Innovation Prize, and a little later a grant from the European Economic Area (seed funding which has expired).  Politeia’s groundbreaking approach lies in involving citizens in all steps of the Constitutional reformation—people discuss, plan, draft, promote and ratify their Constitution.

“First, citizens from all walks of life propose ideas and values in nationwide open-participation labs in the form of World Cafés. Everybody is welcome there,” says Karatza. The World Café is a structured conversational process, theoretically paving the way for open and intimate discussion, ultimately accessing the collective intelligence in the room. Replying to a set of pre-posed questions, participants move between a series of tables where they continue the discussion. Apart from speaking and listening, individuals are welcome to write or doodle on a paper tablecloth. When people alternate between tables, they can see what previous members have expressed in either words or images. In the World Cafés, the objective is to boost discussion and hit collective targets surrounded not by a bureaucratic office atmosphere but a café ambience.

“Next step, we aim to set up a national poll that singles out the preponderant ideas. Finally, a Constitutional Assembly made of citizens selected by lot turns the results and proposes Constitutional articles,” continues Karatza.

“So far, the climate is mildly optimistic but the outcomes inspiring: the most active citizens are those that are discriminated upon, “marginalized” by age, caste or gender, the unemployed, pensioners and women,” hastens to add Karamagioli, who emphasizes how more socially included categories often champ at the bit to  end the debate—preferably if and when the lab accepts their position.

Politeia 2.0 is bent on including the (more) socially excluded in reformatory undertakings, and on rekindling the disenfranchized Greek citizen’s political spark—Greek citizens are all the more sinking into defeatism in the meantime, seeing their quality of life going downhill and the crisis going strong.  I should stress that Xydia argues that re-empowering the political will of citizens will not descend Politeia into mob rule when I ask her about de Tocqueville’s view of the irrational rule of numbers (that can supposedly kick rightness or excellence to the curb).

“The reformed Constitution—hopefully—will guarantee that there will not be any tyranny, neither from the majority nor from the minority. Our whole project is based on the principles of diversity, plurality, consensus and openness, not on the principle of majority.  A truly civil Constitution means that everyone is subjected to the rule of law, not to the rule of numbers,” she says.

The Greek Prime Minister’s proposals of July 26 mention that a national dialogue on the Constitutional reform will open in the upcoming September, a reform expected to last until the spring of 2017. Mr. Tsipras openly invites civil society organizations to join the dialogue: “Our initial goal is to hold talks on reform in municipalities all across Greece with the participation of scientific and social groups, citizens’ movements and individual citizens,” he says, adding that all Greek citizens will be able to partake in the open conversation about the Constitution digitally, submitting their own suggestions through a designated website. “From the people to the people, let’s define the new Constitution for the people,” repeats SYRIZA’s President and Prime Minister. How catalytic a role civil societies play in the inception of an actual “Constitution of the Peoples” will go down in history, at least the Greek one.

*Politeia 2.0, Initiative for Radical Constitutional Change, Democracy& Referendum, Vouliwatch, Politizo Movement, Scify – Science For You

Photo: Place Identity NGO