Revision as of 17:21, 21 February 2025 by Gjw5er(talk | contribs)(Created page with "__NOTOC__ {| cellpadding="6" style="border-left:solid 10px #ffaaaa;border-right:solid 10px #ffaaaa;border-top:solid 10px #ffaaaa;border-bottom:solid 10px #ffaaaa;" align="center" |- | {{philosophy-bar}} <big><big><big>{{center|The Wells School of Philosophy}}</big></big></big> === Roll Call === right 9th January 2024, Hare Lane, 1000-1200 hrs: '''Tutors: Linda {{sc|(LW)}}, Steve {{sc|(SW)}} '''Pupils:''' Frank {{sc|(FB)}}, John {{sc|(JE)}}, P...")
Pupils:
Frank (FB),
John (JE),
Patricia (PM),
Alexi (AN),
David (DR),
Margie (MR),
Viki (VR)
Scribe:
Gavin (GW)
Apologies:
Howard (HS),
Colin (CS)
The homework set
As was the case last year, we have found the four Reith Lectures full of fresh insights and new perspectives on ground we covered frequently in 2023. Professor Ben Ansell on Our Democratic Future could not have come at a more opportune time, as more people will vote for leaders and legislatures in 2024 than has ever been the case in human history.
But will democratic processes cope with the many challenges posed by AI and the loss of truth, social media, wars, climate change, powerful self-interested lobbying groups, anti-deep state populism, the need for security which transcends personal freedom?
Will the Hobbesian view of the function of the state, and of the nature of the human condition, become reality?
How are we going to feel this time next year? How will our grandchildren feel in 20 years? What might constitute grounds for feeling optimistic about the future of liberal democracies??
Ben Ansell says he's an optimist. Woven together, the four lectures covering the future of democracy, security within a democratic state, solidarity and division, and survival and prosperity with a democratic state, and the Qs & As following each of them, form a rich resource.
In thinking across the the gamut of issues raised, you might ponder responses to some general questions, in no particular order, such as:
What might facilitate 'more agreeable disagreement'?
How to limit polarisation/division/ad hominem politics/'othering'?
How can truth be protected/preserved? How can we avoid a 'world of illusion'?
What is 'trust' and how is it encouraged?
The role of grass roots/community level activity
The place of Citizens' Assemblies
Countries where democracy seems to work?
How to overcome the scourge of short-termism. Coalitions?
Is capitalism under democratic control the way ahead?
Would more affordable housing help democracy?
How can young people be more engaged in, and contribute more to, the democratic process?
Is 'world government' a worthwhile/realistic objective? (Based, not on nation states, but on common humanity)
Universal Basic Income vs. universal services vs. universal guarantees applied locally?
Does democracy respond well or badly to crises?
Does the future of democracy depend on economic growth?
Introduction(SW)
It's easy to get depressed about politics, which is undergoing a crisis around the world today. But it would be dangerous to withdraw, because in order to lead the good life, we need a state organised to support society. There are now more autocracies in the world than democracies, yet more people will cast votes for their leaders this year than in any previous year. Many factors threaten democracy today: AI, wars, climate change, powerful lobby groups, the use of populism to get totalitarian leaders elected. Should we trust large corporations? How can society get young people engaged in the political process? Where are we on a scale that has John Stuart Mill's vision of democracy at one end, and a Hobbesian state governed by an all-powerful leader at the other? Should we look at the example of Taiwan, which has created many citizens assemblies?
Discussion
Solidarity
The NHS is a great example of a universal service whose creation has helped to foster solidarity.(DR)
Other universal services of benefit to nearly everyone are the police, the road system, and education.(MR)
Lecture 3[3] contained a useful comparison of universal services versus a universal basic income.(DR)
Becoming a multi-cultural society is in many ways a good thing, but can create feelings of 'otherness'.(VR)
High taxes can also generate the resentment that they benefit 'other people'.(VR)
Finland is rated high on a solidarity scale. This communal feeling may be engendered by a powerful threat on its border.(DR)
The Second World War brought people together and created one of the greatest shifts in this country toward equality.(VR)
Climate change is gradual. As crises go, it doesn't have the immediacy of a war or a pandemic.(VR)
Although many do something to ward off climate change, there is a risk that many will feel the issue is too complicated or distant for them to get involved.(VR)
Economic crises vcan be very damaging to democracy—cf. 1930s Germany.(MR)
We need to avoid behaving like the apathetic frog being slowly boiled to death.(SW)
Young people are getting busier and busier. It's hard for them to find the time to engage in politics.(VR)
Government versus the Voluntary Sector
Food banks are fulfilling a need which should be a government responsibility.(AN)
There are now more food banks than McDonalds outlets in this country.(SW)
People are now volunteering less than used to be the case.(SW)
People today have higher expectations of what they can buy. It's difficult to resist the constant pressure to be a consumer.(LW)
Volunteering creates a sense of solidarity.(VR)
Government has erected a huge bureaucracy which deters volunteering.(VR)
Housing
There's shouldn't be a ladder. The UK should be more like much of Europe—e.g. Vienna—where there is more social housing, and renting property throughout one's life is more the norm.(SW)
Unions
Where are the unions today in the UK?(DR)
The unions used to provide education to the workers.(AN)
In the reconstruction of post-war Germany, the unions played much more of a part in forming the industrial strategy.(SW)
Workers on the board understand the problems facing executives.(SW)
Elections and Democracy
Without proportional representation, the voter's tick in a box every five years achieves relatively little. It's noteworthy that both the Scottish and Welsh parliaments were set up to be elected on a PR basis. Pressure groups—over issues such as air and water quality, the Post Office scandal—seem to achieve more.(VR)
The UK's voting system was not invented to be perfectly democratic. Many adults didn't get a vote. Many wealthy people got two.(AN)
Neither of our two major parties seem likely to give the UK electorate PR. We have to move forward with citizens assemblies.(MR)
Citizens Assemblies would enable people to understand the pressures on government. Perhaps we should be compelled to participate in such organisations when summoned, as in the jury system.(LW)
Workplaces would have to release people on paid leave when summoned.(LW)
How much power should government have?
Hobbes said we need an all-powerful king to give the people security.(LW)
In Singapore there is a different balance between security and liberty.(MR)
The Prevent programme and the US PATRIOT Acts are examples of repressive legislation which give more power to government. They have not been repealed much.(SW)
Do we need civil disobedience to bring about change?(AN)
Jo Grimond said society needed protest and even violence to do so.(SW)
The country is in such a mess that it will be an enormous task to clear it up after the election, whichever party wins.(MR)
The Leaders We Elect
Why have we elected a sequence of Etonian PMs? They have little appreciation of the lives of ordinary people.(LW)
Our government is very London-centric. Other parts of the country seem so different.(VR)
Why did the government start building out HS2 from the London end, given that they have abandoned the project long before it reached its goal—i.e. the North?(LW)
Johnson and his colleagues did not take government seriously. They behaved like the rhetoricians of Athens who could argue either side of any argument.
What is riz? What is charisma?(SW)
Presence.(DR)
Trump, Johnson and Obama all have it. Theresa May didn't.
Is gravitas needed too?(SW)
To what extent do our perceptions of the character of our leaders overcome our reason?(SW)
Other topics touched on
The benefits of cold showers.(LW)
Books Read:
Simon Kuper (2022). Chums: How a Tiny Caste of Oxford Tories Took Over the UK. Profile Books.
