Newid
Encyclopedia
Newid is a political party
in Wales
. It is the world's first popular movement for demarchy
, a form of democracy
in which government policy is decided by representative
groups of citizens randomly selected by sortition
(lot) rather than by career politician
s chosen in election
s.
The party defies definition according to orthodox models of the political spectrum
. Its primary objective is the adoption of a democratic system
of government
designed to retain the benefits commonly associated with representative democracy
whilst resolving functional problems such as political expediency, institutional corruption
in political parties, manipulation by special interests, the formation of political elites, rational ignorance
compounded by permanent electioneering and widespread disengagement with politics on the part of the electorate.
. Newid proposes that 'demarchic' decision-making bodies be established at each level of local and national government including Community Meetings
, Community Councils, Unitary Authorities
and the National Assembly
.
Community Representatives (CRs) would participate for three months at a time, guided in procedure
by advocates drawn from the civil service
and judiciary
. Policy decisions would be implemented by a professional executive
appointed by and accountable to the relevant Assembly or local authority.
A new institution, The National Forum, would undertake strategic planning and develop procedure
. Systems-based
protocol
would enable groups of inexperienced, not necessarily well-educated people to arrive at the rightest possible decisions based upon upon the evidence
provided to them.
Elections are unnecessary in a demarchy because every citizen has an equal opportunity of political participation. Thus the roles of career politicians and political parties would become obsolete in Wales once a demarchy is established.
Newid believes this model will ensure that policy is arrived at efficiently and cost effectively without the huge amounts of time and money currently spent on electioneering and politicking. Moreover, the policy decisions of Community Representatives are more likely to reflect the needs and aspirations of the community rather than the interests of an unrepresentative political elite
. It also asserts that society will benefit from citizens being given the responsibility of learning about specific political issues and participating in government policy decisions. However, these benefits must be considered theoretical since a demarchic political system has yet to be tested.
, it will demand a referendum
on a written Welsh constitution
that incorporates a demarchy.
Embedded in the party's constitution is a statement that the party will stand down from office and disband once a demarchy is established.
under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000
so that it can enter candidates for election to the National Assembly of Wales.
Although Newid is actively campaigning in parts of Wales and its leader has appeared in the media, it is difficult to estimate its actual strength from data published by the Electoral Commission.
The first test of the party's platform will be the election for the National Assembly in 2011
.
Newid's objectives are listed as:
at the Laugharne Weekend festival on 5 April 2009.
Standing on a wall in the market place, Davies gave an impassioned oratory, thereafter referred to as The Laugharne Address, in which he railed against what he saw as the shortcomings of the British political system and the inability of politicians in Cardiff and at Westminster to deal with severe social problems caused by a moribund Welsh economy. A crowd of about 300 people who were attending the Festival gathered to listen. Many signed up to his fledgling party on the spot. Davies then held an impromptu meeting to approve its constitution.
Davies is the party leader and theoretician although he has said he will not stand for election himself to avoid possible accusations of self-interest.
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. It is the world's first popular movement for demarchy
Demarchy
Demarchy is a form of government in which the state is governed by randomly selected decision makers who have been selected by sortition from a broadly inclusive pool of eligible citizens...
, a form of democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
in which government policy is decided by representative
Representation (politics)
In politics, representation describes how some individuals stand in for others or a group of others, for a certain time period. Representation usually refers to representative democracies, where elected officials nominally speak for their constituents in the legislature...
groups of citizens randomly selected by sortition
Sortition
In politics, sortition is the selection of decision makers by lottery. The decision-makers are chosen as a random sample from a larger pool of candidates....
(lot) rather than by career politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
s chosen in election
Election
An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the...
s.
The party defies definition according to orthodox models of the political spectrum
Political spectrum
A political spectrum is a way of modeling different political positions by placing them upon one or more geometric axes symbolizing independent political dimensions....
. Its primary objective is the adoption of a democratic system
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
of government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
designed to retain the benefits commonly associated with representative democracy
Representative democracy
Representative democracy is a form of government founded on the principle of elected individuals representing the people, as opposed to autocracy and direct democracy...
whilst resolving functional problems such as political expediency, institutional corruption
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
in political parties, manipulation by special interests, the formation of political elites, rational ignorance
Rational ignorance
Rational ignorance occurs when the cost of educating oneself on an issue exceeds the potential benefit that the knowledge would provide.Ignorance about an issue is said to be "rational" when the cost of educating oneself about the issue sufficiently to make an informed decision can outweigh any...
compounded by permanent electioneering and widespread disengagement with politics on the part of the electorate.
Newid Model of Demarchy
The Newid Model differs significantly from that originally proposed by the Australian philosopher, John BurnheimJohn Burnheim
John Burnheim is a former professor of General Philosophy at the University of Sydney, Australia.In his book Is Democracy Possible? John Burnheim utilized the term "demarchy" to describe a political system without the state or bureaucracies, and based instead on randomly selected groups of...
. Newid proposes that 'demarchic' decision-making bodies be established at each level of local and national government including Community Meetings
Community (Wales)
A community is a division of land in Wales that forms the lowest-tier of local government in Wales. Welsh communities are analogous to civil parishes in England....
, Community Councils, Unitary Authorities
Unitary authority
A unitary authority is a type of local authority that has a single tier and is responsible for all local government functions within its area or performs additional functions which elsewhere in the relevant country are usually performed by national government or a higher level of sub-national...
and the National Assembly
National Assembly for Wales
The National Assembly for Wales is a devolved assembly with power to make legislation in Wales. The Assembly comprises 60 members, who are known as Assembly Members, or AMs...
.
Community Representatives (CRs) would participate for three months at a time, guided in procedure
Parliamentary procedure
Parliamentary procedure is the body of rules, ethics, and customs governing meetings and other operations of clubs, organizations, legislative bodies, and other deliberative assemblies...
by advocates drawn from the civil service
Civil service
The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....
and judiciary
Judiciary
The judiciary is the system of courts that interprets and applies the law in the name of the state. The judiciary also provides a mechanism for the resolution of disputes...
. Policy decisions would be implemented by a professional executive
Executive (government)
Executive branch of Government is the part of government that has sole authority and responsibility for the daily administration of the state bureaucracy. The division of power into separate branches of government is central to the idea of the separation of powers.In many countries, the term...
appointed by and accountable to the relevant Assembly or local authority.
A new institution, The National Forum, would undertake strategic planning and develop procedure
Parliamentary procedure
Parliamentary procedure is the body of rules, ethics, and customs governing meetings and other operations of clubs, organizations, legislative bodies, and other deliberative assemblies...
. Systems-based
Cybernetics
Cybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the structure of regulatory systems. Cybernetics is closely related to information theory, control theory and systems theory, at least in its first-order form...
protocol
Parliamentary procedure
Parliamentary procedure is the body of rules, ethics, and customs governing meetings and other operations of clubs, organizations, legislative bodies, and other deliberative assemblies...
would enable groups of inexperienced, not necessarily well-educated people to arrive at the rightest possible decisions based upon upon the evidence
Evidence
Evidence in its broadest sense includes everything that is used to determine or demonstrate the truth of an assertion. Giving or procuring evidence is the process of using those things that are either presumed to be true, or were themselves proven via evidence, to demonstrate an assertion's truth...
provided to them.
Elections are unnecessary in a demarchy because every citizen has an equal opportunity of political participation. Thus the roles of career politicians and political parties would become obsolete in Wales once a demarchy is established.
Newid believes this model will ensure that policy is arrived at efficiently and cost effectively without the huge amounts of time and money currently spent on electioneering and politicking. Moreover, the policy decisions of Community Representatives are more likely to reflect the needs and aspirations of the community rather than the interests of an unrepresentative political elite
Elite
Elite refers to an exceptional or privileged group that wields considerable power within its sphere of influence...
. It also asserts that society will benefit from citizens being given the responsibility of learning about specific political issues and participating in government policy decisions. However, these benefits must be considered theoretical since a demarchic political system has yet to be tested.
Strategy
Since career politicians are unlikely to voluntarily adopt a system that makes them redundant, Newid intends to stand against them in elections to the National Assembly for Wales. If it can achieve a majority in the SeneddSenedd
The Senedd , also known as the National Assembly building, houses the debating chamber and three committee rooms for the National Assembly for Wales in Cardiff. The Senedd building was opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 1 March 2006 and the total cost was £69.6 million, which included £49.7M in...
, it will demand a referendum
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
on a written Welsh constitution
Constitution
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
that incorporates a demarchy.
Embedded in the party's constitution is a statement that the party will stand down from office and disband once a demarchy is established.
Establishment
Newid is registered as a political party with the Electoral CommissionElectoral Commission (United Kingdom)
The Electoral Commission is an independent body set up by the UK Parliament. It regulates party and election finance and sets standards for well-run elections...
under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000
Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000
The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that sets out how political parties, elections and referendums are to be regulated in the United Kingdom...
so that it can enter candidates for election to the National Assembly of Wales.
Although Newid is actively campaigning in parts of Wales and its leader has appeared in the media, it is difficult to estimate its actual strength from data published by the Electoral Commission.
The first test of the party's platform will be the election for the National Assembly in 2011
National Assembly for Wales election, 2011
The National Assembly for Wales election 2011 was the most recent election for the National Assembly. The poll was held on Thursday, 5 May 2011 and decided the incumbency for all the assembly's seats...
.
Aims
Newid lists its aims as:- to establish a sovereign demarchy in Wales and to guarantee the equal worth and democratic rights of every Welsh citizen irrespective of gender, nationality, race, colour, creed, sexuality, age, aptitude or social background.
- to introduce by referendum a written constitution that establishes a demarchy and defines the rights and responsibilities of all Welsh citizens.
- to achieve “sustainable abundance” in the Welsh economy and in the provision of education, healthcare, housing and other public services.
- to foster an independent Welsh media with particular regard to encouraging scrutiny, fairness, transparency and debate in all aspects of Welsh society.
- to give equal official status to both the Welsh and English languages to advance a naturally bilingual society.
- to promote a confident, open and outward looking Welsh society, honest and generous in its dealings with its neighbours and the rest of the world and supportive of the universal principles of liberty, equality and fraternity.
Newid's objectives are listed as:
- to advance its aims at all levels of decision-making in Wales.
- to convert its aims and objectives into policies, achieving consensus amongst the Welsh people.
- to identify suitable candidates to stand as candidates for election to public office and to support such candidates with training and advice.
Foundation
Newid was founded by the Welsh designer, writer and political theorist Martin DaviesMartin Wilding Davies
Martin Wilding Davies is a Welsh screenwriter, political theorist, and designer noted for his design of the Welsh street fashion label, The Red Dragonhood....
at the Laugharne Weekend festival on 5 April 2009.
Standing on a wall in the market place, Davies gave an impassioned oratory, thereafter referred to as The Laugharne Address, in which he railed against what he saw as the shortcomings of the British political system and the inability of politicians in Cardiff and at Westminster to deal with severe social problems caused by a moribund Welsh economy. A crowd of about 300 people who were attending the Festival gathered to listen. Many signed up to his fledgling party on the spot. Davies then held an impromptu meeting to approve its constitution.
Davies is the party leader and theoretician although he has said he will not stand for election himself to avoid possible accusations of self-interest.
External links
- Newid — official site