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Mayor Robert Doyle should be congratulated for this bold move. Photo: Angela Wylie

A radical experiment in democracy has begun at Melbourne Town Hall. But it does not involve online activism, marching in the streets, or the Occupy Movement. Instead it draws on the earliest democratic traditions together with some new thinking from social scientists to trial a new approach to public decision-making on tough issues.

Melbourne City Council has recruited a "People's Panel" of everyday Melburnians to make recommendations on how the council should prioritise spending over the next decade. The panel comprises 46 residents, business owners and students who have been randomly selected to represent a broad cross-section of the community.

Over the next three months panel members will be given open access to information and financial data about council, along with briefings by experts, senior bureaucrats and councillors. Like citizens serving on a jury, the panel members will deliberate over what they have heard and will reach a verdict in the form of recommendations to councillors on priority projects, services, revenue and spending.

The Herald Sun and the Institute of Public Affairs have already come out swinging against this exercise. They have attacked the $150,000 cost and accused council of "subcontracting the responsibility to make decisions councillors are equipped to make themselves".

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Once upon a time I would have agreed with these views. But the fact is the first 14 years of this millennium have not been great for democracy. Australia's political system is in pretty crook shape our democracy seems incapable of solving tough problems such as climate change, tax reform or balancing the budget.

A Lowy Poll in June found that only 60 per cent of Australians believe that "democracy is preferable to any other kind of government". And a recent ANU survey found that Australians' satisfaction with democracy had slumped from 86 per cent in 2007 to 72 per cent in 2014.

There is no simple explanation for this decline. And there is no simple or single solution. But we need to start experimenting with new models that just might help governments get good but difficult things done.

Australia has had two major waves of democratic reform: the establishment of the states in the 1850s, and the creation of the federation in 1901. At both of these points Australia arguably led the world in democratic innovation.

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For democracy's sake, give power to the people

Setting up a showdown with democracy activists, Chinas top legislative body said Sunday that Hong Kong residents can vote directly for their next leader in 2017 but that only two or three candidates will be allowed and all must be approved by special nominating committee.

Tension has been building for months over rules for the 2017 election of a new chief executive of the largely autonomous former British territory, which returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 under a framework known as one country, two systems. The drama has mounted this summer amid a series of rallies and counter-rallies, petition drives and even an unofficial vote that drew nearly 800,000 participants.

The Basic Law outlining terms of the 1997 handover granted Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy for 50 years, and the regions 7 million residents enjoy greater freedom of speech, assembly and other rights than their counterparts in the Communist-run mainland.

Until now, the citys chief executive has been selected by a 1,200-member panel regarded as largely pro-Beijing. But the Basic Law provides for a universal suffrage system to be adopted as soon as the 2017 election, and democracy activists have been pushing for balloting that measures up to what they call international standards for free and fair election.

Activists say one-person, one-vote will be meaningless if candidates all have to be approved by a nominating committee they see as beholden to Beijings interests. Instead, theyve been pushing for an open nominations system, allowing any candidate with a modicum of public support to join the race. If that doesnt happen, they have proposed blockading Hong Kongs central business district to press their demands.

Beijing, however, contends that an open nominations system is counter to the Basic Law. And mainland officials and some Hong Kong business groups have warned that democracy sit-ins would throw the Asian financial hub into chaos and gridlock.

In announcing the elections framework Sunday in Beijing, Li Fei, deputy secretary general of the National Peoples Congress standing committee, said an open-nominations system would create a chaotic society.

Many Hong Kongers have wasted a lot of time discussing things that are not appropriate, he told a news conference.

The committee, in announcing its decision, said authorities must proceed in a prudent and steady manner because the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and the sovereignty, security and development interests of the country are at stake.

But activists argue that a failure to forcefully push forward with democratic reforms constitutes an even greater threat to the territorys long-term prosperity and stability, noting that the citys status as a world financial center is due substantially to its Western-style legal system and liberties. They point to a growing wealth gap, sky-high housing costs and increasing influence from the mainland as eroding their quality of life and say the current chief executive, C.Y. Leung, has been unresponsive to citizens needs.

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China sets limits on 2017 Hong Kong popular vote, dismaying activists

Pro-democracy protesters switch on their mobile phones during a campaign to kick off the Occupy Central civil disobedience event in front of the financial Central district in Hong Kong. Photo by Reuters

Pro-democracy activists have vowed to bring Hong Kong's financial hub to a standstill after China's parliament rejected their demands for the right to freely choose the former British colony's next leader in 2017.

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) endorsed a framework to let only two or three candidates run in the 2017 leadership vote. All candidates must first obtain majority backing from a nominating committee likely to be stacked with Beijing loyalists.

The relatively tough decision by the NPC - China's final arbiter on the city's democratic affairs - makes it almost impossible for opposition democrats to get on the ballot.

"This is a legal, fair and reasonable decision. It is a dignified, prudent decision, and its legal effect is beyond doubt," Li Fei, deputy secretary general of the NPC standing committee, told reporters after the decision.

Hundreds of "Occupy Central" activists, who demand Beijing allow a real, free election, prepared to stage a small protest late on Sunday to formally launch a campaign of civil disobedience that will climax with a blockade at some time of the city's important Central business district.

"Today is not only the darkest day in the history of Hong Kong's democratic development, today is also the darkest day of one country, two systems," said Benny Tai, a law professor and one of Occupy Central's main leaders, referring to the formula under which capitalist Hong Kong, with a population of around 7.2 million, was returned to Communist Chinese rule in 1997.

The Occupy movement said in a statement that "all chances of dialogue have been exhausted and the occupation of Central will definitely happen."

It gave no timeframe for its action.

A spokesman for Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, which operates the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, said contingency planning was taken very seriously.

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HK braces for protests as China rules out democracy

Democracy report
Abu Suleiman Al-Andalusi http://www.facebook.com/abou.solaymen.al.anadalusi ...

By: Abu Suleiman Al-andalusi

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Democracy report - Video

Martial Democracy (ft. ex Egyptian general Sameh Seif El-Yazal)
Egypt has been embroiled in turmoil amid the Arab Spring revolution and the coup that toppled its first democratically-elected president last year. And as the nation gears up for new elections...

By: WorldsApaRT

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Martial Democracy (ft. ex Egyptian general Sameh Seif El-Yazal) - Video