oneworldtalk

An extract from today's local media :

Westminster democracy on trial

Left-wing commentators at The Guardian are clamouring for constitutional reform, some for revolution. Right-wing demagogues at the Daily Mail are baying for MP blood.

Yet all are agreed that something is rotten in the state of Britain: the fallout from the ongoing parliamentarians' expenses scandal presents a fundamental threat to British liberal democracy.

In some ways, the situation in Britain now is reminiscent of Australia during the late 1990s, when public disillusionment with politicians propelled the rise of Pauline Hanson and her One Nation party. In both cases, voters are intent on making their displeasure known to political elites. There are also right-wing populist forces appealing to xenophobia and feelings of cultural loss.

In the Australian experience of Hansonism, however, popular alienation from government and parliament was more ephemeral than permanent. For all of its flaws, and many would say divisiveness, John Howard's Anzac nationalism offered an ideological foundation for a realigned post-Hanson Australian mainstream. The point, though, is that democratic legitimacy requires voters to feel a sense of solidarity with their fellow citizens and their elected representatives. This was something readily grasped by Howard.

The Westminster scandal reveals a different democratic deficit. In historical terms, British democracy has been well served by an unwritten constitution of liberty. But this was supported by a political culture based on values of restraint, moderation and public service.

All this has been steadily eroded over time. The professionalisation of politics has undermined a traditional parliamentary culture based on duty. The decline of imperial power and the advent of multiculturalism, combined with bourgeois disdain for expressions of national pride, have left Britain socially fragmented. Now far-right nationalists are moving in to fill the void. This is the real crisis facing Westminster.

What is happening in Britain shows us exactly what can happen when you fail to fix a broken system and fail to take the need for solidarity seriously.

- Tim Soutphommasane is a doctoral researcher in political theory at Oxford University


For details, please read the following link :

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/westminst ... ml?page=-1

With reference to :
I would not accept the assertion that individuals do not take personal responsibility and find scapegoats in systemic weakness and social changes. Even the most "perfect" system will have loopholes for the irresponsible to exploit and conceal wrongdoing from the disinterested people. This is what some would describe as "monkey see, monkey do". Look inside instead of outside for answers.