Impressed by Wallström

A democratic society/community is a lot more then just having elections and giving people the chance to vote every other year. More important is the way we communicate and invite people to participate in the public debate. Margot Wallström is in this respect becoming a sort of model for other politicians. I think it is rather impressive that she as one of very few officials at her “level” actuallly invites us all to participate in an ongoing discussion.

In her blog yesterday she addresses some of the comments that have been made there – Democracy, Euroscepticism, globalisation – She writes: I said I would get back to John Archer. Ok, let´s talk about democracy: are you saying that democracy can only exist at nation state level? That a “demos” can only be defined within national borders? To me this is outdated. And over time the definition of democracy has changed. Democracy in ancient Greece did not include women and slaves for example. … The three most important differences between antique and modern democracy are that today we apply universal suffrage, representative systems and tolerance for the minority. The biggest challenges remain the same : ignorance and passivity.

I think she actually addresses one very fundamental issue. In a world where a lot of things brings us closer across traditional borders through travel and a lot of different forms of exchange (students, services, trade, ideas, pullution etc.) it becomes more and more obvious that the national state is a to narrow framework for solving a lot of things. We therefore need frameworks for participation and of course also formal democratic institutions at levels above these old structures, not only in Europe but in the rest of the world. Regions like Europe seems to be a god place to start the journey towards some kind of democratic world where the wealth is equally distributed and aggression something from the past.

A democratic society/community is a lot more then just having elections and giving people the chance to vote every other year. More important is the way we communicate and invite...