You Asked: Part 3

Can democracy survive complexity?
Question by Kalina (and the Edge)

No. It can’t.

Contemporary Western democracy has turned into a reductionist paradigm. It shrinks issues to either-or propositions. You are either a republican or a democrat. You are either a freedom loving patriot or you support terrorism. You care about the environment or your proudly refuse to recycle because you know better. Opposition voices hardly ever get heard. People in the minority (be it ethnic, religious, subcultural or whatever) aim at building up enough strength and resources so that THEY can become a majority. The “majority rule” idea, which has come to be synonymous with democracy, has been taken to such an extreme that it has taken policy-making out of politics and turned democracy in a mere power-struggle. Deliberation is a farce.

It's not that I think that there is anything inherently wrong with democracy. I just don’t think that contemporary democracy, i.e. what we’ve come to refer to as “democracy”, can address the complex issues that are on the agenda today. It can create camps of friends and foes. It can outline boundaries between people. It can make those who are already privileged even more powerful. It does not, however, represent the views of the people as it only seems to serve the interests of those in power.

I believe we are still at a point where politicians and general assholes in powerful positions feel the need to at least pretend they are working to resolve complex social, economic or political problems. They know what they are supposed to sound like they are operating democratically. Their acts, however, show otherwise. Those of you who are contemplating casting a vote for Bulgarian representatives to the European Parliament, know what I am talking about. You stare at the list of candidates and simply can't make a decision because all of the people who are running for office are kooks. In order to address the complex contemporary issues of today, we will either need to ask our politicians to "do democracy" differently (good luck with that), OR, more likely say fuck-it to democracy and start looking for alternative channels of dealing with social, economic and other problems.

What would these channels be? Well, just think about the people who actually get stuff done: non-governmental organizations, citizens groups, social movements, private business, Hollywood..