Here's something I wrote in November 2006 for the journal of the Institute for Public Policy Research, in an edition about empowerment. It tells some of the story of the "double devolution" / local government reform process in which I was involved, from a partial standpoint. Mostly a positive experience, but the difficulties we encountered struck me as just a symptom of a larger British malaise, and stimulated me to think a bit about how power actually begins from below, with us. As a wave of speculation rises about GB's constitutional plans, I thought it was worth re-posting here.
(Blackwells appears to own all rights, but as the author I am allowed to post it with acknowledgement.) The most widely applicable excerpt follows - the rest is for the local democracy fiends...
In his party conference speech in autumn 2006, Gordon Brown said, “In the new century, people and communities should now take power from the state.” This was a remarkable statement, giving credence to the idea that this is a man who has been thinking hard about the alternative legacy of the 1906 Liberals and reopening the state. While David Cameron is playing in this space, Brown has been purposefully shaping it. But the direction of the rhetoric jars with the actual pattern of how Whitehall
, Westminster
and local authorities and agencies are operating today. The challenge we face if we are to realise this aspiration is therefore not a small one. As Brown implied, empowerment cannot be achieved simply top down by the state – it is also a task for us as people, individually and together at once.
Britain
has an ancient, powerful story of sovereign Parliament. But parliamentary sovereignty need not be opposed to popular sovereignty, just as representative democracy need not be opposed to participatory democracy. In each case, the former can provide a solid core to the latter, broader process, while relying on it for sustenance... Power begins with people, and is then delegated up to Parliament; legitimacy is prior to legality, and Locke trumps Hobbes. This is the strongest foundation for new alliances between citizens and their legitimate representatives. As Elaine Applebee (an inspirational activist who became, as director of Bradford Vision, a social entrepreneur par excellence) says: people have the power, through their actions and inactions, to make all things work – or to block them.
Power, once concentrated in the state, can blind its wielders to its limits and origins. That is one of the lessons of Iraq
, where the deep sources of legitimacy – popular sovereignty and international recognition – were treated too cavalierly. The next phase of reforms we take forward in our country should reverse the current of double devolution, beginning with people and communities. We need to take on big challenges about the way our political parties and other institutions and processes operate; constitutional tasks from the shape of the second chamber to striking a new balance between executive and parliament, and central and local government; and the fine-grained questions of how public services work and people self-organise. All of this can be done beginning with communities and the wider public good. It can be done through trusting the people, rather than resorting to the contorted hallways of royal commissions – as Power’s Lazarus-like revival as campaign may shortly propose.
Finally, and uppermost in my mind after a troubling recent visit to Jerusalem: we need urgently to tackle the catastrophe of Britain’s place and action in the world – a problem composed of structures, personalities and policies together. As citizens, we need to take advantage of new avenues to tackle global collective challenges...
Yes, like Avaaz.org! Read the whole thing below, if you're locally-minded, or interested in the intricacies of British public services...
