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Democracy Engineering Explained

What is democracy engineering?

The official definition of democracy engineering is the "design, creation, and building of political processes, structures and in general systems, based on democratic principles and the use of transparent fundamental axioms". The fundamental principles used in the theory are that "All humans possess equal dignity" and that "The people are sovereign". These axioms are nearly universally accepted, but are not easy to put into practice in the real world. Democracy engineering is systematic, interdisciplinary, calls on many facets of human knowledge and is replicable. Democracy engineering is claimed to be scientific because it provides a coherent explanatory framework for many facts and events, it uses no supernatural elements or explanations, and most importantly, it allows one to solve problems by making prescriptions in a systematic way, hence it is falsifiable, which is a basic condition of being a scientific theory according to the philosopher Karl Popper.

Why engineer democracy?

Historically, progress toward democracy has been via wars and revolutions. This is still visible in 2011. Unfortunately, this means that many innocent people die as a result. The real and always most important battle is the battle for legitimacy, which is the domain of expertise of democracy engineering. Democracy engineering aims at effecting smoother transitions between one situation and another, by creating maximally legitimate processes, while reducing or completely avoiding the loss of lives when improving or changing systems. Just as few people would dream of building a new house or renovating an old one without an architect, hopefully in the future anyone wishing to improve political systems will first call on democracy engineers to get the best possible advice and minimize risks.

Of course, democracy engineers can only advise, and the final decisions always belong to the client entity, though a client may ask a democracy engineering consulting company to implement a strategy (just as a client could ask an architect to design a house, then to work with a contractor to implement the design, i.e. build it). Democracy engineers have a nuanced view and understand the complexity of democracy. We help to avoid using democracy as an end in itself and focus on the optimal solution for each client. Furthermore, democracy engineers understand and reject the notion that there exists any ideal political system or model, and that only an optimum can be found for every political entity. This optimum itself is dynamic and changes over time. Unfortunately, the notion of an ideal political system is still dominant in the collective unconscious, and has led to atrocities throughout history. Utopia does not and can never exist due to the imperfect nature of Man. When designing processes, it is necessary to get rid of the mental representations that an ideal could exist. This is much harder than one might think.

What are the limits of democracy engineering? 

Any method claiming to be scientific has limitations and must be upfront about its limitations.  Democracy engineering is not a panacea and in some cases it may fail, but at least it is better to try and fail than not to try at all. Violence can only ever be a final resort and peaceful design solutions should be preferred as a matter of principle. In general, democracy engineering greatly increases the chances of a successful and peaceful transition to the new desired state, even by several orders of magnitude. Democracy engineering is not a magical wand, just as democracy is not.

The limits of democracy engineering lie in the first step of the method which, in general, is to determine the boundaries of the system considered. This means that democracy engineering cannot "solve" the question of any territory wishing to secede from another territory, since the determination of who decides is a question that must be answered outside of the scope of democracy engineering. Also, since the foundation of democracy engineering assumes that all humans are equal, if one day we create (i.e. via genetic engineering) super- or sub-humans, this will endanger the very foundation of democracy. Another limit, which is the reverse of the strength of independence, is that democracy engineers have no direct power to effect change, it is the political client who must decide and do it. They can only reason, convince, explain, plan, design etc.

Why democracy?

Democracy engineers do not answer the fundamental question of "Why democracy?" This is a philosophical/political question which every people must answer for itself. Democracy engineers only provide a service to people and governments who want it. Hence democracy engineers never impose anything, they are only here to give the best possible advice based on basic principles, and to help design a strategy to implement the goals of the client, as a consulting company would do in any other field. Some answers to the question of "Why democracy?" are that democracy is central to the economic, political, and social development of people. That it does a better job of allocating resources and ensuring stability in the long-run because people everywhere want to be free and determine their own destiny. The overall historical trend as technology improves, the standard of living rises, and as people become more aware of other peoples around the world, has been towards democracy. Every country must decide for itself what it wants to do, but if a country decides to improve its system in the direction of more democracy, then it is useful for it to hire independent democracy engineers, as reforms and transitions are extremely sensitive and fragile and can very easily go wrong, with the consequence of a loss of lives.

What do democracy engineers do?

Democracy engineers help to design, create and implement strategies, including strategies of transition, in addition to continuously adjusting and fine tuning the strategy as the need may arise. In the heat of the moment, decisions can be made that contradict the original goals and strategy, thus it is useful to have an independent democracy engineering consulting firm assist in the implementation and continuation of the strategy in a flexible manner. The dangers of democratic transition are on the one hand that democratic processes are applied where they are less relevant, or even harmful (too much democracy) or on the other hand not applied where they could or should be (too little democracy).

Democracy is a very sophisticated political technology, but like any other technology, it is not and can never be perfect, and it is suited to every situation, just as particular tool cannot be suited to every situation. Democracy engineers help the client to navigate the very fine line between too much and too little democracy, and between a too simplistic application of democratic principles or an overcomplicated application of these principles.

By making the right democratic transition we can help to secure your country’s economy, avoid further violence, riots and reduce the risk of civil war. Democracy engineers can also help in designing a foreign policy which respects and furthers fundamental democratic principles. Democracy engineers understand the complexity of the international system and can advise on how a country can best further its long-term interests in this system and move toward a more democratic world order where the rights of the people of all countries are more respected. The ultimate aim of democracy engineers is to put themselves out of business. Ideally, your policies on the national and the international level should be coherent, and if they are, your country de facto contributes to the transition to a more democratic world system, just as you are transitioning to democracy on the national level.

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