Showing posts with label Brexit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brexit. Show all posts

Tuesday 15 August 2017

Good Government, Democracy and Referendums




 

Government is an ongoing process. Any single referendum aimed at making a binding decision on some issue is not an ongoing process. Any such referendum is of course a process, but it is a process designed to bring about closure if the possibility of a further referendum is excluded. In this posting I will argue that accepting the result of some types of referendums, such as the Brexit one, is damaging to good government and is fundamentally undemocratic.

Democracy might be defined as the belief in freedom and equality among people. Democratic government might be defined as “a system of government in which all the people of a country can vote to elect their representatives.” (1) The two definitions are connected because if people aren’t free they can’t govern themselves. What does it mean to govern oneself? The ability to govern oneself is the ability to make decisions without being deceived or coerced and to enact those decisions. The ability to govern a state is much the same. It is the ability to decide which policies a state wishes to pursue together with the capability to enact them. The ability to govern of course applies to both dictatorships and democratic states. Democratic government takes place by its citizens determining its policies either directly, through such means as referendums, or by electing representatives. Personal government must of necessity be an ongoing process. Let us assume someone governs herself and that she decides at time t1 doing x is best thing for her to do. Let us next assume at time t2 and in a roughly similar situation she finds that she is unable to do anything other than x. I would suggest that at time t2 she is unable to fully govern himself. To be able to fully govern herself at t2 she must have the ability to revisit her past decisions and if necessary revise or change them. Accepting the above of course does not mean she must change her decision or even consider changing it. Moreover, any inability at t2 doesn’t need to be connected to any lack of further reflection on her part, she may be perfectly satisfied with her previous decision and feel no need for further reflection. However, even if she simply accepts some decision her acceptance cannot be forced onto her and she must retain the ongoing ability to accept or reject this decision. The same is also true of states. Governing a state requires that the state retains the continuing ability revise and if necessary change its own policies. Governing a state must of necessity be an ongoing process. States that don’t do so become lifeless and fossilised.

I now want to argue that the use of some sorts of referendums damage this ongoing process. It might be objected that provided the electorate in some referendum is not deceived or coerced that the result of the referendum can contribute to good government. I accept my objector’s position holds in some circumstances referendums can contribute to good government. Nonetheless I would argue that my objectors position doesn’t always hold in all circumstances. I will argue that use of some sort of democratic referendums to determine policy can damage good governance. Of course a democratic referendum might help to determine a policy. However, a democratic government must retain he ability to revise and if necessary change its own policies. If a referendum determines some government policies for the foreseeable future, then that government loses part of its ability to make and change some of its own policies in the future. The above holds even if the referendum in question was conducted democratically. In what follows I will consider referendums which determine some government policies for the foreseeable future rather than binding ones. No binding referendum binds forever, binding referendums only determine some policy for the foreseeable future. Referendums can express the will of the people but this expression isn’t the everlasting will of the people as everlasting will just doesn’t exist, people can, do and should be able to change their minds. Accepting he above means accepting that the use of a democratic referendum by any government, when the result of the referendum determines a policy for the foreseeable future, damages good government because good government is an ongoing process.

I have argued that referendums which determine government policy for the foreseeable future damage good government. It might be objected that I’m misrepresenting the point of referendums. The point of referendums is to shift the focus from elected government to a more direct form of governance. I accept my objector’s point. I accept that referendums can shift the focus from elected government to a more direct form of government. However, I will now argue that any referendum which is designed to determine long term policy damages good governance. How can direct government by the use of referendums possibly damage good governance? I am not suggesting all such referendums damage good governance. I am only suggesting that those referendums which determine some policy for the foreseeable future damage the ability of the electorate to govern themselves directly. Let us imagine a state which is governed directly by its electorate by the use of referendums. Let us assume that one of these referendums determines one of this states policies for the foreseeable future. I will now repeat my central argument as to why such a referendum damages good governance. Let us accept that government must be an ongoing process. This referendum damages this ongoing process. I have argued that someone’s ability to govern himself means she must have the retain ability to change his decision and that the same is true of voters. If voters in some referendum determine some policy for the foreseeable future, then they deprive themselves of the ability to decide on some policy at some future date. Even if referendums, which are designed to govern directly, are conducted democratically they can still damage good government and if they deprive the electorate of the ability to make further decisions on some matter are undemocratic. Both good government requires retaining the ability to react to changes in circumstances, any referendum which determines government policy for the foreseeable future destroys this ability to react. I suggested above that such referendums in spite of appearances are fundamentally undemocratic. Clearly any democratically conducted referendum which aims to elect a leader for life destroys democracy. I now want to argue that any referendum which takes place in a democracy with the aim of determining some policy for the foreseeable future damages that democracy. In a democracy the electorate must retain the ability to shape government policy. It might be objected that if the electorate have democratically determined some policy in a referendum that nothing can be more democratic than that. I would suggest soundness of this objection depends on how long such a referendum is meant to determine a state’s policy. Let us assume that a referendum determines some state’s policies for the foreseeable future. Such a referendum is undemocratic. Over time he electorate changes. Some electors die whilst others become enfranchised. It follows that the result of the referendum over time might come not represent the will of the majority of the electorate. The will of the majority might be ignored.

Let me once again make my position clear I’m not saying all referendums damage good governance or are undemocratic. Referendums which are advisory or determine short or perhaps even medium term policy need not damage a government’s ability to govern nor are they fundementally undemocratic. I am saying all referendums which determine long term policy or policy for the foreseeable future damage good governance and are undemocratic. I believe the Brexit referendum to be such a referendum. What conclusions can be drawn from the above? Firstly, referendums should never be used to determine long term policy. Secondly if referendums must be used to determine policy in the medium term they should not be decided by a simple majority of actual voters. At the very least referendums to determine medium term policies should require a majority among all those eligible to vote in order to be valid. A larger majority should mean that the result of the referendum would remain the democratic will of the electorate for a longer period.

  1. http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/democracy?q=democracy



Historic wrongdoing, Slavery, Compensation and Apology

      Recently the Trevelyan family says it is apologising for its ancestor’s role in slavery in the Caribbean, see The Observer .King Ch...