Democracy

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 It is republished here as a historical document and reflects the author’s ideas at the time of writing.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.” ...

This article was originally written on 14 June 2007 and published on blog.luxzenburg.org. It is republished here as a historical document and reflects the author’s ideas at the time of writing. A debate is currently raging about the secular republic of Turkey. A new president is being chosen by parliament, in which the religious AK Party holds an absolute majority. In the first round, Gül, the AK Party’s candidate, won. But the constitutional court has declared the elections invalid. The military has already stated it will defend the secular republic by all available means — and last weekend hundreds of thousands of Turks protested against the election of a ‘religious’ president. His wife even wears a headscarf. ...

This article consists of two separate posts, originally published on 15 October 2005 and 14 March 2007 on blog.luxzenburg.org. They are republished here together as a historical document and reflect the author’s views at those moments. I. The Burqa Ban (October 2005) The Dutch parliament has voted in favour of banning the burqa in public spaces. As a Dutch person and as a Muslim, I find myself wondering what the advantages and democratic justification for this ban are. ...

This article was originally written on 15 May 2005 and published on blog.luxzenburg.org. It is republished here as a historical document and reflects the author’s ideas at the time of writing. The French non has exposed several problems within the European Union. First, the democratic deficit. Politicians emphasise that citizens can vote for their national and European representatives, but for most people the Union has remained an invisible entity, even as its powers have risen to unprecedented heights. ...

This article was originally written on 15 April 2005 and published on blog.luxzenburg.org. It is republished here as a historical document and reflects the author’s ideas at the time of writing. The BBC reports that the treatment of minorities and foreigners attempting to enter Greece has been sharply condemned by human rights organisation Amnesty International. According to Amnesty researcher Olga Demetriou: “People at the margins of society — asylum seekers, migrants, Roma and members of other minorities — are most likely to be victims of discrimination in all its forms. Usually their attackers are representatives of the state.” ...