From ‘liquid democracy’, to the ‘underground fungal network’ of citizenship that supports progressive change, the former Oxfam GB CEO offers lots of useful ideas about how the 21st century can live up to its initial promise as the ‘century of the citizen’, says Duncan Green.
Health Warning: Danny Sriskandarajah is both a friend, and my former boss at Oxfam GB, and this blog is hosted by Oxfam, so everything you’re about to read is horribly compromised.
Still reading? OK then, here goes.
The title pretty much tells you what’s inside. Power to the People is a big picture, determinedly optimistic call to arms that argues that a lot needs to change if the 21st Century is to live up to its initial promise of being ‘the century of the citizen’ (internet as liberator, Arab Spring and other examples of people power etc etc – feels a long time ago, no?). Citizenship is compared to the “underground fungal network” that sustains forests, an invisible driver of progressive change that must be nurtured if we are to save the planet and head off numerous threats, global and local.
Sriskandarajah breaks down the challenge into four big idea chapters: reimagining our democracies to protect and tap into human agency; democratizing our economies to deliver a more equal sustainable system that works for people and planet; making global governance far more participatory; and protecting human freedoms and dignity in the digital world. I really liked the first and last of these, but had a few issues with numbers two and three.
‘He adds a very comprehensive critique of INGOs for “failing to grasp just how ripe for disruption their traditional roles have become.” As Oxfam GB CEO he’s seen both the problems, and put in huge energy trying to fix them.’
First, reimagining democracy: a great, up-to-the-minute overview of the latest thinking on making formal political accountability mean more than the occasional half-hearted trip to the polling booth. These include:
- Citizens Assemblies (‘a kind of jury duty for policy making’), with great examples from Ireland (abortion rights), France (climate);
- “Liquid democracy” – “liquefying the rigid structures of representative democracy and creating a greater number of more flexible participation opportunities for citizens”, through things like gamification (Madrid) and online voting (Estonia);
- “Augmented democracy”, pulling in AI (of course) to “better understand our collective choices in more regular and nuanced ways” (and no, he doesn’t want to hand it all over the large-language models, just to see what they can offer).
I just put this chapter on my LSE course reading list.
The chapter on “securing our digital future” was passionate, unashamedly techno-optimist and surprisingly geeky, seeking to recover the early optimism of the internet with proposals for things like a Digital Geneva Convention “to protect citizens, and our rights, during this century’s digital warfare”. Or “citizen data-powered accountability”, using “citizen-generated data to track commitments made by governments”.
In contrast, his heart didn’t seem to fully really be in “Democratizing our Economies” or “Finding Our Global Voice”, which is odd given that his current job is boss of the New Economics Foundation, and reforming global governance has been a lasting passion of his, both at Oxfam, and at the Commonwealth Foundation. Maybe they’re just too familiar? Or maybe it’s me that’s a bit jaded with the topics, not him? You decide.
The economics chapter seemed surprisingly weak on the environment, whether on the lack of a discussion of Kate Raworth’s doughnut, or of the potential trade-offs between democracy and the tough, and unpopular decisions that may be needed to save the planet.
The chapter on “finding our global voice” seems to revolve around getting many more people to participate in meetings – a lot of meetings (‘becoming 24/7 citizens’). As someone who really hates meetings, I find this an unattractive proposition, to put it mildly…
The last section is a call to arms, setting out what needs to happen to bring these kinds of ideas into being.
“Civic action today lacks the oxygen of investment… It lacks the lifeblood of recognition as a means of tackling our biggest societal and global challenges. It too often relies on short-term solutions which seek to alleviate the symptoms of serious systemic disease but fail to tackle its root causes. Its connections to the beating heart of political change are weak. And its prescribed route to good health too often centres on a kind of bleak, self-punitive abstinence, rather than the positive ways we might be able to achieve longevity.”
He doesn’t spell out who exactly he’s talking about there, but I guess we could all nominate some progressive hairshirt-ists we’ve come across….
To this he adds a very comprehensive critique of INGOs for “failing to grasp just how ripe for disruption their traditional roles have become.” As Oxfam GB CEO he’s seen both the problems, and put in huge energy trying to fix them.
In this final section, I felt I was witnessing some kind of “tale of two Dannys”. Civicus Danny feels most at home in the outsider camp, supporting grassroots organizations in whatever they want to do or hanging with Oxfam volunteers (above). But Insider Danny clearly also loves to “be in the room” with the great and good (and Prince Phillip).
Perhaps that makes him one of the rare bridging activists, equally at home in the shanty towns or the corridors of power, that John Gaventa and Rajesh Tandon write about, but it felt to me that he was struggling to combine the two worlds. “The power of these new social movements to enact lasting change lies in how well they connect to the root network of civil society.” Really? How about how quickly they connect with formal politics to translate that brief surge of mobilizational power into political expression and win formal control of the state, like the Workers Party in Brazil, before the energy of the movement inevitably subsides?
Oh, and it’s very nicely written – an easy first-person style, combining Sriskandarajah’s rich life, jobs, the people he’s met and a lot of reading.
All in all, a good and thought-provoking book even (especially?) when you don’t agree with it.
“Power to the People: Use Your Voice, Change the World”, by Danny Sriskandarajah, is published by Headline Press
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This blog first appeared on From Poverty to Power.