Every country on earth now needs a Peace Minister
You personally must engage in demanding it. In our increasingly tense world, why should all our governments have “Ministers for Defence”, perhaps even for “War”, but not for “Peace”? It does not make sense, does it? Peace is the matter of prime importance for the well-being of people everywhere in the world. The horrible pictures…
Unhinged: A situation of chaos in the world
The two things we and our governments must urgently do to tackle the present chaos in the world.
Mr. Merz, what does “to govern” mean at all? …
The “million-euro Gretchen-question” to the new chancellor-elect of Germany Does the new chancellor-elect in Germany know at all what the term “to govern” means exactly and which exact actions the term necessitates and comprises? What exactly is the correct definition and understanding of “to govern”? As the victory of his party became apparent on election…
Dear Trump Supporters, Dear Undecided Citizens of the US
If you really want to make America great again, your strategy must be to vote for Harris and then to make the government work for all American people. Voting for Trump in contrast threatens to utterly destroy America, and all the values America stands for in the world. ______________________________________________________________________________________ Presently the world is crazy and…
Our only chance? – A Global Citizens’ Climate Movement
Everyone in the world worried about Climate Change now needs to get involved. Summary Every one of us needs to realise that our personal CO2 emissions already kill people, in total thousands of people around the world every year. Eventually our CO2 emissions are likely to contribute to Armageddon on earth, the suffering and death…
Getting order into Number 10
Starmer must employ a rational systemic approach to sort out the chaos in Number 10 and to make the UK government perform optimally.
Biden’s crucial failure: So far, no success in stabilizing US democracy
Now, in the remaining months before the election, an instant democracy turn-around program is of decisive relevance. Further measures to stabilize US democracy on the long-run are also indispensable. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ To make it clear upfront: The thoughts in this essay are not an encouragement to vote for what I perceive to be a dangerous demagogue.…
Ending The Climate Crisis – clearly also a Matter of Methodology
Given the enormous complexity of the problem only a systemically sound problem- structuring approach will offer us any chance at all to end the Climate Crisis. Abstract The blunt fact is that so far our climate efforts are not delivering what we need to achieve, they are not ending the Climate Crisis. Following a strict…
UK Leadership Contest: Open Letter to the Members of the Conservative Party
Dear Members of the Conservative Party, The fate of the nation now again is in your hands. Britain is at a crossroads, between a direly needed turn towards a rational politics serving the nation and its citizens or towards ever more irrationality, government blunders, and scandals harming and weakening the nation further. People want a…
July 2022: How does Britain now get a proper government?
Are we now getting more of the same? Do we really think that Britain will now get a proper government with another Conservative Party beauty pageant, just like the one it conducted in 2019? British politics has been a chaotic disaster at least for six years now. The convoluted four-year Brexit decision making process was…
Breaking the deadlock in our fight against the Climate Crisis
The film “Don’t Look Up” (USA 2021), just as already the movie ”The Age of Stupid” (Britain 2009) and the global protests against the Climate Crisis are desperate calls to action to protect our world. The critical questions are: What action exactly is required and by whom? Summary of Proposals: The Climate Crisis appears the…
Biden – The Savior of Democracy?
So far, half the job done. To complete it Biden needs a highly effective Government Performance Management System without delay. What a world of a difference in the entire conduct of the inauguration ceremony, the decent and measured speech of Biden, the thoughtful and classy poem by Amanda Gorman, and in the deep prayers spoken…
Year in, year out the same political theatre
Government and parliament in the UK are not doing their duty and consistently weaken the nation. They must be overhauled without delay. Both government and parliament in Britain are negligent in the execution of their duties towards society. As a result, they consistently weaken the nation. Government has ignored substantial calls for a fundamental overhaul…
The US – Renewal of Society – Renewal of Democracy
A proposal This morning I got a phone call from a friend in Asia: Hans Peter, there is a great need for ideas on democracy in the US. What do you do about it? Basically, I am in the process of writing a book about democracy. But work on it is not going forward as…
What is the Prime Task of a Prime Minister?
An essay competition on the subject between the candidates The British democratic policy making system is in shambles. Britain and the Tory party specifically are looking for a leader able to sort out the mess and to get the nation back on track. As an intriguing new element in the three-year spectacle, now eight or…
Do I now have to glue myself to the doors of Extinction Rebellion?
I just received a mail from XR rejoicing that MPs will on Wednesday vote on the declaration of a Climate Emergency…and now another one informing me of upcoming meetings with government officials. “Hi there”, states the first mail, “This Wednesday MPs will vote on whether to declare a national climate emergency. After months of grassroots…
What Extinction Rebellion should do next – a proposal
The starting point: We need effective political systems to solve complex tasks. Climate Change is the largest and most complex challenge humanity has ever faced. Our efforts to stop Climate Change will have to involve all people on earth, all areas of life, and all areas of policy making. To solve the problem of Climate…
The Climate Protests: A Constructive Way Forward
The Situation We do not have any more time to lose. We urgently need an effective process to get us started. The Scope of The Task The situation is more complex than anything the world has ever seen before. We need something like the war effort in WWII, involving all people in society, only this…
Back to Basics for British Politics
The decisive question: How can Britain get a government with professional decision and strategy making capacities of the highest quality? After the upheaval of Brexit, which divided the nation, the election greatly added to Britain’s political chaos rather than ameliorating it. For a small regional party like the Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to determine…
Democracy is a …religion? No, it is a mechanism which we urgently need to fix.
“Democracy is a religion that has failed the poor” states Giles Fraser in his weekly column “Loose Canon” in the British Guardian. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2015/may/08/democracy-a-religion-that-has-failed-the-poor Now, Giles Fraser is a highly intelligent man, a theologian and doctor of philosophy whose column, even if one may not always fully agree, generally contains some stimulating thought. But is democracy a “religion”?…
“Why people keep electing idiots?” – Constructive action by citizens required
“Democracy v Psychology: why people keep electing idiots?” The language which Dean Burnett uses in his article in the Guardian may be somewhat provocative, but it certainly gets a point across: We actually do not make sure that our politicians are qualified for the job. That makes us as citizens culprits, if things with our nations…
Many cooks, no dish – Without sound project management the UK will not get a new Constitution and a policy making system of the quality it urgently requires.
The UK debate on democracy, political and constitutional reform is multifaceted, and long-standing. Some strands of it, such as the reform of the House of Lords, have been going on for years. The discussion is driven by actors from various reaches of society and state, including parliament, academic institutions, think tanks, and civil society, by…
How to make democracy work? From ideas to structured action.
Words, thoughts and ideas are valuable, if we want to strengthen our democracies. But they do not suffice. “What’s gone wrong with democracy – and how to revive it” asks the Economist in an essay in its March 1st – 7th edition. http://www.economist.com/news/essays/21596796-democracy-was-most-successful-political-idea-20th-century-why-has-it-run-trouble-and-what-can-be-do The concern of the article must be appreciated. Functioning democracies are of…
A New UK Constitution? – No Effective Democracy without Permanent Effective Control by Citizens
Key Points The London School of Economics (LSE) has initiated a highly important project for the well-being of society in the UK, now and in the future, a project to design a new UK constitution. The project should be of great relevance for all democracies in the world, since they also suffer from to…
Governments on trial for the destruction of the earth? – Creating democratic policy making systems for a new age
Imagine, 5 young people, a couple of parents, and two childrens’ organizations in the US – Kids vs Global Warming and the Wild Earth Guardians – are suing the mighty U.S. government.[1] The case is of the utmost relevance to all of us, all citizens of the world, wherever we might live. And actually, it…
Optimizing Democracy versus Slow Democracy
In an article on “Slow Democracy” published on 20 November 2013 on the openDemocracy website Susan Clark and Woden Teachout describe a highly constructive process of citizen engagement in policy making at the community level ( http://www.opendemocracy.net/transformation/susan-clark-woden-teachout/slow-democracy ). In a comment on the website I suggest that “Slow Democracy”, focusing mainly on better deliberation, appears to be an element…
Building a Sound Democracy in Egypt
What we see in Egypt is a tragedy so far, especially for the people, since they continue to suffer, and also for the world, which urgently requires more stability and to see countries succeed on their way to democratization, peace, and enhanced well-being for society. How can Egypt achieve building a sound democracy “in a…
Optimizing Democracy in Brazil – Two Concrete Steps Necessary
Brazil has been seeing huge protests for more than two weeks now against many issues – mostly against a lack of transparency, corruption, and ineffectiveness in government. How can these protests lead to a concrete, lasting improvement in the quality of government? The model described in this blog provides a solution: To govern a country…
“Send in the clowns” – Which qualifications do our politicians need precisely?
“Send in the clowns”, titled The Economist after the recent parliamentary elections in Italy when the party of the comedian Beppe Grillo won 25% of the total votes and the party of Silvio Berlusconi 30%. Of course the views of clowns on developments in society and politics can be refreshing and stimulating. Yet the professional…
Italy – A Citizens’ Association for the Optimization of Democracy
How can Italy get a stable and effective democratic policy making system, now and in the future, a policy making system able to handle the challenges of the 21st century? In Italy, like in any other democratic country, the citizens themselves are ultimately responsible for the fate of their country. They themselves must fix any…
How to optimize democracy? – An approach based on Systems Thinking
In aiming to optimize democratic policy making we need to realize that our rationality as human beings is not perfect, our training and our professional experience are limited to specific areas. These observations are also valid for our leaders. Also a randomly composed group of people will often not have the perfect solution for a problem. They might…
Who tells a Head of Government which ones are the best methods to build effective policy making and delivery systems?
Whatever a democratic constitution may say in detail: In my opinion the Head of State in a democratic country is responsible to build effective systems and organizations for policy making and delivery. That is why we elect him or her. The fate of a nation, the state of infrastructure, of health systems, of schools, even peace…
Optimizing Democracy – The Sequence of Steps
Whichever way we may be aiming to contribute to improving policy making, be it by wanting to influence an individual policy area only or by improving the overall policy making system, given the size of the policy machines in democratic countries we must maximize the effectiveness of our own action, if we want to have…
How to optimize democracy? – Two things are necessary
From a very fundamental analytical perspective it takes two things to optimize democracy: 1. Optimal know-how in setting up the most effective democratic policy making systems and processes conceivable. 2. Making sure that this optimal know-how is adhered to and applied. In the following a short discussion on what is required to establish the optimal know-how for making our…
How to optimize democracy? – Organizing the debate
Presently many proposals on improving democracy are discussed nationally and in the international public domain. The problem appears to be: The discussion is not organized, we don’t have an overview over all proposals, and we do not have an effective system to determine what the best solution is. Maybe all proposals have advantages and draw-backs, maybe we…
How to optimize democracy? – Some basic thoughts
Democracy is government by the people, as one element of the statement by Abraham Lincoln on the nature of democracy. The prime way for citizens to take control of their world and their policy making systems suggested in this blog is to join in and support a citizens’ association for “Optimizing Democracy”. Our current control…
Why optimize democracy?
Many regions in the world and the world as a whole are facing severe actual or potential crises: 1. Global warming could well turn into the most existential crisis for human beings across the globe the world has seen so far. 2. The West has been seeing increasing gaps in income and wealth and wide…
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