This article was originally written around 2008 and published on Google Knol. It is republished here as a historical document and reflects the author’s ideas at the time of writing.

This is part of the Project Policrateia series.

Policrateia is a political system based on the best values of democracy, federalism and aristocracy. Why these three? Democracy is chosen because it is a widely accepted form of government that gives citizens the ability to choose and to maintain influence in government. Federalism is a political form that places power as close to the citizens as possible. By aristocracy is meant the political form described by Plato and Machiavelli: “the government of some gives the most powerful decision-making abilities; the government of many is weak government. Democracy is only a solution to keep as many people as possible satisfied.”

The polis as foundation

In Policrateia, the federal system gives power to the city or county — the polis (Greek for city, hence the name Policrateia: city-power). A polis can be a city, like ancient Athens, but also a group of villages or a combination of a city and surrounding villages. The foundation is the democratic fundamental right of citizens: they have the right to choose the size of their polis, its political structure, and the power level of its government.

Below are some possible political forms — with the note that almost endless variations can be created:

Peoples-Policracy The most fundamental form: all inhabitants of a community hold power. There is no assembly making laws, nor need there be a government — at most an executive authority that reports to a peoples’ congress in which every adult citizen has a seat. The peoples’ congress is derived from the Athenian assembly and functions through debate.

Parliamentary-Policracy This middle form operates much like the peoples-policratic form, but here the people elect an assembly to make laws and an executive authority to handle daily affairs. Both are elected at different times — the assembly in January, the executive authority in July — so that each governmental body operates for at least one year.

Aristocratic-Policracy In this case the people delegate their powers for at least one year and a maximum of three and a half years. The executive and law-making powers rest with a single body: the aristocratic council, in which some of the community’s notable citizens hold seats. The aristocrats are not hereditary but are elected to a lifelong function. After demonstrating service to the community, someone may be nominated and voted in — or not — at the annual peoples’ congress.

The Poleis State

The next stage in Policrateia is the union of poleis into a state. Preferably, the power of a polis in the state depends on its financial strength and number of inhabitants. All poleis send their deputies to the Poleis Congress (PC). Since the relative economic position and population of a polis can fluctuate, voting weights in the PC are periodically adjusted. Decision-making in the PC requires a qualified majority of 67%.

The tasks of the PC are: creating and managing the Central Bank, International Relations, Defence, and inter-polis infrastructure. The allocation of social funds may also become a PC task. The PC functions as a parliamentary democracy — this means there will likely be far more Members of the Poleis Congress (MPCs) than there are now members of parliament: in a country like the UK, approximately 1,500. To manage daily affairs, the PC installs a Government which functions as Machiavelli’s aristocrat, since it is impossible to have all MPCs work daily on everything together. The PC convenes monthly to evaluate the Government.

Fees and commissions for politicians

The members of the Poleis Congress and the Government do not receive exorbitant salaries, but only expense commissions. They work for the citizens, but are also citizens themselves. Politics should be like a professional hobby, not a job. This prevents the emergence of a caste of professional politicians, as politicians stop after a time to find work and earn money in the real economy. This is akin to Plato’s idea of philosophers and soldiers. According to this same philosophy, the buildings of the Poleis Congress and the Government should be sober, without any luxury.

See also the other articles in the Project Policrateia series: A New World, The Celtic Confederation and Muslim Anarchism.