Democratic structure
From Tribewanted
A democratic tribe is a core part of the Tribewanted idea. In creating a new democracy we can learn a lot from the very large literature on the theory and practice of democracy.
In particular we can learn from other examples of participatory democracy - that is when all members take part in decision making. Usually participatory democracies make all or most decisions through group discussion. Some examples are Kibbutz, feminist organisations, environmental and Green groups and communes.
Online participatory democracy is more complex and has advantages and disadvantages over the small face to face kind. The advantages are that members do not have to be able to all meet together. Disadvantages are that conversation can be dis-jointed because people participate at different times. Also it is far easier to have discussion with people who you know and can see.
In effect the online democracy in Tribewanted is not participatory because decisions are taken by a vote. So we are an example of direct democracy, using referendums to vote on issues and also representative democracy because we elect chiefs and elders who then make decision for us.
In any new democracy the great danger is the tyranny of structurelessness which was identified by Jo Freeman in the 1960s. The key point relevant to the Tribewanted democracy is the recognition that desires to have no or little structure is counterproductive because it inevitably leads to inequality and despondency as members are unsure about how they can play a role and how to influence those with power.
The main ways to overcome the tyranny of structurelessness are to: 1. have a clear power structure that explains who makes which decisions 2. ensure that full information is available to all. In particular how to raise an issue for a vote; how to join the discussion; where to find existing discussion; how to stand as a candidate; how to vote 3. decentralise power by using past chiefs and elected elders to assist with decisions that do not go to the full tribe
Freeman lists seven aspects (see link above).
In terms of voting the key aspects of concern are the ways in which decisions are made when there are more than two options.
Tribewanted votes use first past the post, or plurality which means that each person votes for one of the options. This is the voting system used in UK, USA, Canada, India and much of the rest of the English speaking world. Few electoral system experts think this is a fair system if there are more than two options.
With two options one of them must get over half of the votes. When votes are held using first past the post and there are three or more options then the one with the most votes may have less than half of the votes. Many experts and voters feel that this is unfair. Other electoral systems use ways of finding the option that is preferred by over half of the voters. There are several ways of doing this: 1. preferential voting as used in Australia to elect parliament. 2. double ballotas used for French presidential elections 3. Borda count which is used by some organisations but no countries. All of these are easy for the voter to do. None are hard to count and only the designated returning officer and some scrutineers need to understand all of the details.
