Anand Giridharadas is one of my favourite writers at the New York Times and this time his reflection on the merits of open societies is particularly thought provoking.
“A stunning idea has entered respectable American discourse of late: that China is not just an economic rival but also a political competitor, with a political system that, despite its own flaws, reveals grave flaws in American democracy and might be inspiring to wavering nations. [...]
The question the reappraisers seem to be asking is whether their belief in bottom-up, spontaneously ordering, self-regulating societies blinded them to other truths (as their enthusiasm for China risks blinding them to the cruelty and violence of autocracy). They are asking: Can openness go too far? Can public opinion be measured too frequently? Can free speech sow disorder? Is the crowd really smarter than the experts? Can transparency hamper governance?
Or, to put it in the terms of an influential 1997 essay, is the bazaar always better than the cathedral?”


In the 1990s onward, we heard plenty of discussion around “eGovernment,” and how it would put elected officials and public administrators in touch with their constituencies.
A new report published jointly today by the British, Danish and Dutch governments challenges the way European institutions make decisions and argues that smart EU regulation must mean that businesses and citizens are put at the heart of all European policy-making.
UK government plans to roll out e-petitions across the country could offer people a real say in the democratic process, a conference has heard (as reported by the BBC).
We need to think seriously about what digital democracy has to offer, says Bill Thompson on the BBC News website.

A long article by PBS’s Mark Dupreau:
When young activist associations met up in September 2008 at La Rochelle, democracy and engagement proved to be further slices of the ‘Eutopia’ cake.
Over the past ten years, the Granada locality of Jun has become a cybernetic laboratory for the whole of Europe.
Council of Europe Forum for the Future of Democracy hosted by the Government of Spain and the City of MadridMadrid, Spain, 15–17 October 2008
What are the most democratic countries in Europe? How would we find out? We could look at electoral turnouts. But while elections matter, Demos, the UK think tank, doesn;t believe that democracy is something that should start and finish at the ballot box.