In the Occupy Wall Street movement all decisions are being made through a General Assembly (GA) based on consensus. This is a unique way of decision-making for a group that is leaderless. There are General Assemblies in other cities that are being formed. The question that I am pondering is: Can GAs replace the local democratic process in cities? Another question is : Can Direct Democracy be used effectively to make major decisions at a local level? The use of GAs promises more participation in government, while Direct Democracy can allow citizens to vote via the Internet on key items in a city’s budget. These have to be explored further.
In one of the latest posts on OccupyWallStreet (http://occupywallst.org ) titled “Enacting the Impossible (On Consensus Decision Making)” there is a very good discussion on General Assemblies:
http://occupywallst.org/article/enacting-the-impossible/
http://occupywallst.org/article/enacting-the-impossible/
The Co-Intelligence Institute discusses many aspects of improving citizen participation in government:
http://www.co-intelligence.org/index.html
http://www.co-intelligence.org/index.html
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