Wiki Democracy

[Lashiec]

While reading the news this afternoon, I came across this interesting and surprising piece of information. An excerpt:

New Zealand will allow citizens to decide what is legal or not via wiki.

New Zealand's Policing Act governs what is legal and what is illegal for its citizens.  Now New Zealand will take a grand, bold step by allowing its citizens to collectively rewrite its laws in pure democratic fashion.

While the idea hearkens back to ancient democratic forums, the medium is decidedly high-tech -- the nation will use a wiki to allow citizens to contribute to the new policing act.  The page will help people organize their thoughts and collectively make decisions.

I think that this is democracy at its purest, just like it was devised in the old Greece, but taking advantage of modern technologies. Of course, one thinks about the Wikipedia, and wonders if they'll need a wiki police squad to watch over the possible vandalism in a page geared to the discussion of new attributions for the police. A bit ironic if you ask me , but I hope everything turns for the best, and this novel idea gets exported to the rest of the world

[nudone]

that sounds pretty amazing. i can't imagine it happening anywhere else in the world regardless of its success.

[iphigenie]

I don't know - sounds a bit gimmicky to me - governed by wiki???

Although the parallel to ancient greece is a good one: you could only participate if you were from the right family, fortune, owned slaves etc.

Its a great PR stunt but if things like wikipedia, technorati, digg etc. are anything to go by, lowest common denominator policy is not necessarily the best way to create laws. Things are hugely complex and interconnected, and people on average seem to only be able to see one or two aspects... I have been in England long enough to know that governement by public opinion (as represented by media reports and surveys) does not create the best space for people to thrive in...

And, put simply, where's the "debate" space in a wiki?

[Renegade]

Mother-of-God! What's wrong with them? Don't they know that power is supposed to be kept in the iron grasp of the few elite so that they might slowly whiddle down rights and institute laws that serve themselves all the while pushing the masses deeper into the slavery of debt?

This is a sickening abandoning of hundreds of years of financial serfdom. Especially in light of the last 100 years where so much has been accomplished to ensure the subservience of the masses to their debt-slave masters!

Appauling! This dangerous experiment should never be allowed to spread. The infection of freedom from interest slavery to central banks would destroy the elite's grip around the throats of the hereto mindless serfs!

Abandon all hope, ye who dare to tread where demons fear to go...



I LOVE IT! A REAL VOICE!

And from the sounds of it, apathy isn't a problem for them!

[Renegade]

...
And, put simply, where's the "debate" space in a wiki?
...

Wikis have conversation spaces - kind of like forums. It can work... I'll be optomistic for this one.

[nudone]

yeah, it sounds kinda sci-fi to me but i'm remaining optimistic about too.

[gjehle]

from a idealistic and naive point of view i want to see this happening
on the other hand, being a mix of pessimist and realist i'm not so sure...

then again.. seeing what's happening here in germany i so want the ability to contribute more directly and not have total morons and lobbyists  decide what's good for the 'stupid people'

*sigh*

[Lashiec]

There's a little problem with the article, as by the time it was posted, the page was not accepting new ideas, and people in charge closed it to prevent addition of new ideas while they reviewed and cleaned up suggestions towards the final redaction of new laws. Now they're published, so you can take a peep. It seems some of the discussed ideas were preserved, but not the entire debate, which is a letdown (maybe The Wayback Machine or Google has a copy?). I should mention that not only New Zealand residents, but people from around the world could contribute to the wiki (yeah, it sounds a bit awkward to have a Spanish resident decide on the laws for New Zealand ).

I know that the general public opinion is not that smart regarding how politics work (the same politicians aren't either ), but giving ideas is something that everyone can do. It also helps raising the transparency of the process, as you know that even using the available mediums to follow political discussions, you miss much of the "hidden" talking going on, first in the political parties, and then between the representatives outside the parlament (I won't even mention how much you can miss with the mass media). It also introduces more views on the matter, as political parties tend to be quite monolithic these days.

I suppose the wiki maybe was open to debate following this very forum organization, in the sense that everyone can voice his/her opinion, but not to take on others thoughts (not on wiki fashion at least).

Oh, one last thing. A place where this kind of wiki democracy could work like a charm is within a local government. Cities are small enough (maybe gigantic metropolis aside) for everyone to discuss what should be done and what not, as they don't involve creation of new laws, at least not complex ones.

[cobber2005]

Here's a way to do an open-source self-governance with a wiki.

http://efficasync.blogspot.com/