Volume 3

Issue 2
June 2006

Power to the people:

the case for Direct Democracy
by Brian Beedham

If you look at last year’s British election, it

seems clear that the people of Britain are
getting tired of the way their political system is
more than in the 2001 election but far less than the
robust 70 per cents and 80 per cents of the previous
six decades. This new reluctance to vote is underlined
organised; they want a new and better sort of by the growing number of people who tell the
democracy. Only about 61 per cent of those who opinion pollsters that they mistrust politicians. The
could have voted in May actually did vote, slightly mistrust voiced this year was of course partly a result

George Cruikshank depicted the failings of representative democracy in the nineteenth century.
2

of the rather confused criticism of Tony Blair’s fact that so many people grumpily claim to be
decision to go to war in Iraq. But on the evidence of uninterested in politics is a warning that politicians
the opinion polls, the suspicion of politicians extends would be foolish to ignore.
well beyond the prime minister, and indeed well Grumpiness about politicians is not confined to
beyond the governing Labour party. Britain. Far from it.
Even worse, perhaps, was the opinion poll which The countries of the European Union were
recently asked Britons whether they had any interest asked last year whether they liked the EU’s proposed
in politics. Bleakly large numbers said they did not, new constitution, and of those whose people were
and the No figure was highest in the youngest category asked to vote directly on the matter both the
of voters. Of course, in one sense this is nonsense. Netherlands and France replied that they did not.
Most of these people would say they were interested
in having an efficient National Health Service, a better The voters seem to have had an assortment of
reasons for rejecting their leaders’ recommendation
pensions system, lower crime rates, and so on, and
to vote Yes, but in both countries there was clearly a
they know that these things cannot be achieved
powerful groundswell of general mistrust towards
without the machinery of politics being involved in
politicians. This groundswell is now likely to be
one way or another. They were just expressing their
even stronger in Germany, whose parliament waved
dissatisfaction – especially the youngsters, as usual
through the new constitution at the German
the huffiest of the lot – with the particular machinery
government’s request, but more than 90 per cent of
of politics they are currently expected to use. Still, the
whose people, according to one opinion poll, do not
want the constitution.
And the suspicion reaches well beyond Europe.
In This Issue: A poll conducted last year by Gallup International
among 50,000 people in 60 countries found that 63
per cent of them thought their political leaders
Brian Beedham
dishonest, 60 per cent reckoned that they had too
Power to the people: the case
much power, 52 per cent that they behaved unethically,
for Direct Democracy page 1
and 39 per cent that they were not competent to do
No laughing matter their jobs. The sting was even sharper because in
Professor David Conway discusses every respect those polled thought that businessmen
the furore surrounding the cartoons were less bad than politicians. The greatest cynicism
published by Danish newspaper was in Latin America, Africa and the Indian
Jyllands-Posten page 12 subcontinent, in the first two of which, at any rate,
the politicians to some extent doubtless deserve it.
News in brief page 15 But even in western Europe, the most tolerant area,
46 per cent thought their politicians dishonest (and it
The back page interview was 76 per cent in Germany). Only in France were
A very nice man: Nick Seddon voters more willing, by a margin of about 10
interviews Rick Williams back page percentage points, to tip their caps to the people at
the top.
Civitas Review Prof Malcolm Davies, Director Natalie Bowie, Office Manager Patrick F Barbour
Nick Seddon, Editor of Criminal Justice Unit Wayne Ives, Europe Project The Hon. Mrs Silvia
Prof David Conway, Manager Le Marchant
Civitas Staff Senior Research Fellow Wil James, Research Fellow Prof Kenneth Minogue
Catherine Green,
Dr David Green, Director Douglas Myers CBE
Editorial Assistant
Robert Whelan, Deputy Director Anastasia de Waal, Civitas Trustees Lord Vinson of Roddam Dene
Norman Dennis, Director of Head of Family and Education Justin Shaw (Chairman) Sir Peter Walters
Community Studies Nick Seddon, Research Fellow Dr Philip J Brown (Treasurer)
 3

The other way people to say that, ‘in the face

of international aggression…
This adds up to a considerable problem.
I support President Pinochet in
‘Representative’ democracy – the way democracy
his defence of the dignity of
has so far been managed almost everywhere in the
Chile’. But Napoleon liked to
world – is running into trouble. Supporters of this invite people to agree with what
indirect form of democracy argue that the trouble is he believed, as described in
just a temporary phenomenon, a result of the re- suitably roseate language. So did
thinking of political ideas made necessary by the General de Gaulle. It is tempting
collapse of Marxism after 1989. Well, maybe. But it for any government which is
seems far likelier that the pains of ‘representative’ having difficulties to resort to
democracy are here to stay, because their real cause this sort of thing. But these are
is a wider change in economic and social conditions not true referendums. The true
in much of the world in the past half-century. Nor is referendum or initiative is one which is put to the
the problem going to be solved by minor reforms to voters whether the government wants it or not, in
the voting system – proportional representation, words written by people outside the government. This
transferable votes and so on. Such twiddling has not is how the people control the government, not the
cured the mistrust of politicians in most of the other way round.
countries that have tried it. If anything, it probably
makes things worse. How it can be done
The solution may have to be something much Switzerland is so far the only country that has
more radical. The radical cure is direct democracy. whole-heartedly embraced direct democracy. It uses
it at the national level, and in its 26 cantons, and in
In direct democracy, the voters do not merely vote
the 3,000 communities (ranging from big cities to
every few years to elect a parliament and a president,
tiny hamlets) which make up the cantons. But direct
and then leave it to these people to ‘represent’ them
democracy also happens, if in a rather less whole-
until the next election comes along. Under the direct-
hearted way, in quite a lot of other places.
democracy system there is still a head of state and
there is still a parliament, both going about their In the United States, about half of the country’s
usual business. But at any moment it is possible for 50 states use referendums and/or initiatives so that
a group of voters, provided they can drum up the people can do something if the governors and
legislatures they elected do not act as they wish. A
requisite amount of support, to insist that a law
few years ago an attempt began to move the idea up
proposed by the representatives must be submitted to
to the federal level, though so far this has had little
the judgment of the whole people in a referendum.
success. Much the same applies to Germany. The
Better still, they can insist on putting to the people an
Germans’ post-Hitler constitution makes it possible
idea that does not appeal to either president or
for the country’s component states, if they wish, to
parliament. If a majority of the voters say Yes, here turn to direct democracy, but curiously does not
is a new law. This is called an initiative. By permit it in Germany as a whole.
referendum and initiative, the voters stay in command
Post-Mussolini Italy has been rather bolder: it
of politics between elections, not just on that once-
sometimes used the whole people’s vote in national
every-x-years election day.
politics, and in the early 1990s its referendums
Please note that referendums and initiatives, in helped to break up the murky old parties’ corrupt
the proper sense of those words, are very different grip on politics. Australia is at least as good: in its
from the kind of ‘popular vote’ that authoritarian century of independence, it has held not only a fair
rulers sometimes conjure up to serve their own number of nationwide direct votes, but also quite a
purposes. Not many dictators are quite as brazen as lot in its six component parts (a healthy proportion
President Pinochet of Chile, who in 1978 urged his of the latter about bar-closing times). There have
4

been serious referendums in Denmark, New Zealand Switzerland’s 26 cantons give their people the
and several other countries. There are also the current same sort of power in cantonal matters, with self-
referendums in various European countries about a selected variations in the way it is done. Some of the
new constitution for the European Union, though it cantons have more radical ideas than others. In the
has to be noted that most of these are taking place canton of Zurich, one solitary signature on a petition
only by permission of the country’s government, and can, provided it gets a modest amount of support in
some of them can be over-ridden by parliament if the the cantonal legislature, put a proposed change in the
government does not like the result. law to the whole people. In the canton of Bern, the
Another instrument of direct democracy is the voters are not confined to saying Yes or No to a
‘recall’, a process by which the voters can dismiss an proposed new law; they can offer amendments to it,
elected politician before his term of office has and then choose which amendment they prefer. The
expired if they do not think he is doing the job well smallest units of Swiss politics, those 3,000-odd
enough. It is used in California, where it recently led communities also do their local business in direct-
to the removal of a rather plodding governor and so democracy fashion. In some of the smaller cantons
enabled Arnold Schwarzenegger to take his place.
and communities, you do not walk to the polling-
Some Latin American countries employ the power of
station or send in a postal vote to do the job. You all
recall, and a few of Switzerland’s cantons also
assemble for a meeting (well, all of you who feel like
possess it. Yet the recall procedure is a rather diluted
form of direct democracy. It cancels the election of a it), and vote face-to-face.
representative, but it then leads to the election of a Most of the decisions the Swiss take (and all the
new representative in his place. It does not directly nationwide ones) have to do with the legislative side
step into the business of law-making, as real of government, not the executive side. They are law-
referendums and initiatives do. making, or law-blocking, votes, not votes on the
So direct democracy is not exactly a secret. Yet day-to-day matters that are usually decided by
it is astonishing how few voters, in the countries that ministers and civil servants. The reason is obvious. It
still plod along with representative democracy, know can take months to collect the signatures needed to
what the other sort is and how it works. For every bring a referendum or an initiative to the people’s vote
100 people currently expressing their mistrust of – a necessary process, to demonstrate that the idea is
politicians, and saying they probably won’t bother to
not just a personal whim – and day-to-day decisions
vote in the next election, one’s guess is that only
cannot wait for months. Anyway, most of those day-
about a tenth have any idea of the alternative
available to them. Since the Swiss employ the best
example of that alternative, here is a brief summary
of what direct democracy provides for the Swiss.

The Swiss model

In Switzerland, 50,000 signatures on a petition –
roughly 1% of the total number of qualified
voters – are enough to insist that parliament must
submit a proposed new countrywide law to a vote of
the whole people. Twice that number of signatures
will put a brand-new idea for a law, an initiative, to
the people’s decision, even if the government is
against it. A few technical issues cannot be voted on
Stimmlokal (Swiss voting station)
in this way, but fewer than used to be the case.
 5

to-day decisions can reasonably be left to the people deciding how their country is governed. Some of
whose job it is to spend their working day following them are wealthier than others; some have sharper
the subject in detail. That is why the Swiss version of minds; some prefer Mozart to Bono, or vice versa.
democracy goes hand-in-hand with an executive arm No matter. Provided they are reasonably sane, they
of government as vigorous as that of most other are all equally part of the demos. That concept sits
countries. But it is an executive that, as elsewhere, has oddly alongside the fact that, in most of the democratic
to obey the country’s laws; and in Switzerland it is the world, all but a few hundred men and women have
people, not the legislature, who are all the time in no democratic function except to cast a vote every
command of the law-making process. now and again for one or another of a variety of
parties that offer them a complicated list of proposals,
Ah, but the Swiss are a special lot, say the some of which they like, but others they do not like;
sceptics, who can do things other people cannot hope and between those occasional votes the few hundred
to imitate. No, they are not. It is true that in some of exceptions, plus the civil servants under their
their Alpine valleys they made early experiments command, take all the actual law-making decisions
with local direct democracy several centuries ago. (and sometimes bend to the corrupting temptations
But it was not until the 1860s that the country’s of the authority their exceptional position gives
present system of politics got itself organised (and them). This is not really ‘representation’. It is, in the
the Swiss were then a mainly rural, not very rich, not long periods between elections, just a transfer of
very well-educated bunch of people who spoke, as power to the few.
they still do, four different languages). And, although To be sure, there was a time when this was
it is true that voting turn-out has lately fallen in probably the necessary way of doing things. Back in
Switzerland, as it has in other countries, the probable the 19th century, when democracy began to take root
explanation in Switzerland is not disillusionment in significant parts of world, there was a huge
with the system but sheer voting-weariness. difference between most of the population and the
minority who took upon themselves the task of
As the population grows, it gets steadily easier
government. The great majority were still very poor,
to collect the very modest number of signatures
whether they worked on the land or in the harsh
needed to summon a referendum or an initiative. So factories of the new industrial age. They knew little
the poor Swiss have an increasingly long list of about things beyond their own daily life. Education
national, cantonal and communal decisions to take, was only just starting to be provided to anybody
sometimes up to 30 or 40 in a single year. Not being outside the upper class. Newspapers had a very
a special lot, they sometimes feel rather exhausted. modest circulation, and there were no other regular
Slightly stiffer signature-requirements, and therefore means of distributing information – of telling people
fewer things to vote about, can probably solve what was happening outside the limited range of
the problem. their immediate knowledge.
Perhaps it made sense in those days to confine
The world has changed
the majority to the limited task of saying every now
If the Swiss can do democracy the direct way, and then which group of more skilled people they
and if Americans, Australians, Italians and others wanted to do the governing, compared with the other
have begun to imitate them, the days of purely groups putting themselves on offer, and then to let the
‘representative’ democracy may be drawing to a winning group get on with it. But those days are over,
close. That adjective alone is enough to make you sit and so is the case for the sort of politics they created.
up and think.
There are four main reasons why the argument
The basic assumption of democracy is that all for indirect democracy looks increasingly threadbare.
adult men and women should have an equal share in The first reason is the fact that the economic and
6

social changes of the past century have abolished, or differences between the various parts of society are
at least greatly diminished, the old gap between the visually obvious. The working-class majority is not
Few and the Many. only much worse dressed than the toffs still wearing
top hats or the relatively small middle class in its suits
Richer, sharper… and ties. It is also, for the most part, shorter, thinner
Today, the average Briton is in real terms nearly and greyer in the face. In today’s picture, the differences
five times richer than he was a century ago. The of dress are obviously more a matter of individual
average American is more than six times richer. The choice than of economic necessity, and the physical
average Italian (here you really begin to be startled) is differences have largely disappeared. A classless
13 or 14 times better-off. Then consider what happened society, no; but a much less sharply divided one.
to the Japanese economy in the 20th century, and will
happen to the Chinese one in the 21st. The political consequences of the economic
revolution are reinforced by what has happened in
This spectacular growth in average income
the world of education. In the 19th century, even in
enables the average citizen of the rich world, among
the better-off countries, most people had only a brief
other things, to save much more money than he
and very basic schooling (and a lot did not have even
could save even 75 years ago. Savings per head in
that); and universities were a virtual monopoly of the
the United States are seven times bigger in real terms
upper class. Now pretty well everybody in these
than they were in 1930; the average Briton has done
countries goes to school up to the age of 15 or 16,
even better. So more people can buy shares, have a
and most of them until they are 18 or 19; and the
house and car of their own, and so on. People with
door to higher education is opening wider and wider.
property feel more independent, and independent-
In France, for example, 60 times as many children
minded people are better at making their own
now go to secondary schools as was the case a
political judgments.
century ago, and 50 times as many subsequently
Even more important, this great increase in total move on from secondary school to college or
wealth in much of Europe, America and Asia is university. In Japan, the growth in numbers is almost
spread far more evenly (except, so far, in China) than double that. Even in the United States, which was
the smaller totals of the past used to be. To be sure, doing better than most countries in 1900, 33 times
there is nowhere a truly equal distribution of the more children now go to secondary schools, and 60
material comforts of life. But the differences are times more to higher education.
much smaller than they once were. The working of Numbers are not everything. It is said that the
the modern economy no longer requires a very large quality of education has fallen, and the complaint
number of people doing simple, repetitive jobs, has some justification. At school, teachers nowadays
whether on the farm or in the primitive factories of often find their work made more difficult by one of
the early industrial era. Nor does the modern economy the less desirable consequences of the economic
sustain a small number of people whose superior revolution – the loosening of old-fashioned family
position depends on the ownership of land, which ties, which produces a growing number of unruly
can be passed on from generation to generation even children – as well as by the limits now imposed by
if the inheritors are neither intelligent nor hard- law and convention on their own means of disciplining
working. As the old upper class and the old lower the unruly ones. At university, the soaring number of
class have shrunk, more and more people have moved students has to be measured against the rising
into the vague but comfortable area between them. proportion who choose to study the easier sort of
If you find the statistics boring, compare a photo- subject. If there were an educational equivalent of
graph of people in the street taken in the 1920s with Gross Domestic Product, a means of measuring the
one taken yesterday. In the 1920s picture, the universities’ total annual output of sharpened
 7

intelligence and necessary knowledge, it would almost newspapers. The wall against the diffusion of
certainly turn out that the rise in Gross Educational knowledge is very nearly demolished.
Product was less than the increase in the number of It is therefore now possible for anybody who
young men and women entering the universities. wants to say what he thinks the law should be on any
All in all, though, the changes in education have given subject to know as much about that subject as
given an extra push to what economic change has his representative in parliament knows. Not
done. It is no longer possible for a handful of rich, everybody will be interested in knowing it. There are
educated people to claim that they are better equipped always quite a lot of people genuinely turned off by
than the unlettered masses to understand complicated politics (just as there are quite a lot of legislators
problems and devise suitable solutions for them: to who, rather than delving into the matter at hand, just
be, in short, those indispensable ‘representatives’ wait for their party leaders to tell them how to vote).
who take the actual decisions. Most of the voters are That is not the point. The point is that, in the new
these days as capable of coping with such things as world of reasonably educated, independent-minded
most of the people they are intermittently allowed to voters, those who do want their voice to be heard can
send to parliament. learn what they need to know to make an informed
judgment: so they do not need a representative to use
…and what IT can do his voice instead of theirs.
Their capability to do this is strengthened by the The post-Marx factor
second, more recent reason for arguing that indirect
democracy’s days are drawing to a close. This is the Reason number three for believing that change
stunning development in the past couple of decades is coming is something even more recent. This third
of information technology, the means by which reason is the blurring that took place in politics when
people can learn almost instantly what is happening communism disappeared from the political map
in the world around them. after the end of the cold war in 1989. This is not the
chief explanation of the change in the mood of
Once upon a time, the only way of circulating today’s politics, as the defenders of indirect
such information, except by word of mouth, was the democracy like to claim; but it has certainly
newspaper. But there were not many newspapers, contributed to that change.
and none of them sold many copies, and anyway the
newspapers’ methods of getting hold of the In most democracies before 1989, at least one of
information in the first place were limited, slow and the major parties had a distinctly Marxist flavour to
often unreliable. Then came a series of inventions its ideas, but the other parties did not. This was a
which broadened and enriched the flow of information clear-cut dividing line. Elections in those days were
– the telephone, radio, television, the fax machine. always to some extent a principled confrontation
But all of these together achieved nowhere near as between the policies of socialism and individualism,
much as the computer and the past few years’ between the command economy and the free market.
astonishing succession of improvements in what the The United States was an exception, because its
computer can do and how it can be used. The result politics were never much tainted by Marxism. But
is not only a method of transmitting more information, almost everywhere else the gap of principle shaped
more swiftly, to an almost unlimited number of the political war.
recipients, but also something close to making that No longer. Since the collapse of communism,
transmission unstoppable. It is harder to prevent elections have become relatively minor disagreements
people learning things from a computer than it was over how much the state should spend, and on what,
to stop them reading faxes, and far harder then it was the details of economic management, the best way
to control the use of radio and television or to censor to pay for sickness and old age, and so on. There is
8

still, even in this blander new politics, a recognisable some he disagreed with, but at least the old ideological
difference between the competing claims of economic distinctiveness was a help in making up his mind.
efficiency and social compassion, between Now it has gone, his election-time choice becomes
a democracy-encouraging foreign policy and a even more of a toss-up. He will therefore be attracted
preference for stability, for leaving the world as it is. by direct democracy, which offers him a way of
But the simple old ideological battle-lines are no voting for or against a specific proposal without
longer there. being distracted by all the other things that would
The dilution of ideology has two consequences. have been on the agenda in an election of the
One is that political parties are becoming feebler indirect-democracy sort. It is much more satisfying
creatures than they used to be. They can no longer to be asked one straight question, and to answer it
claim to be carrying banners inscribed with a great when you have read the arguments for saying either
idea, and so the loyalty to that idea which helped to Yes or No.
hold them together begins to dissolve. People change This is why the troubles of representative
their votes more easily, and party members move democracy are unlikely to be cured by the twiddling
more readily to another party. This weakening will reforms offered by its defenders. They suggest
have an effect. Political parties love indirect proportional representation, which would give each
democracy. Direct democracy pushes them to the party a share of parliamentary seats much closer to
sidelines, so they oppose it. But now, being looser its share of the actual vote than the admittedly
and blurrier parties than they once were, they can no eyeball-rolling outcome of last year’s British election.
longer oppose it as effectively as they once did. Or they offer the voter more than one vote, so that he
The fact that parties are now less different from can have a first choice and then a second choice. The
each other also makes the voter wonder why he difficulty is that these changes will probably increase
should be able to use his vote only once every few both the number of parties taking part in an election,
years. He has in the past had to vote for or against and the likelihood that the subsequent government
parties some of whose proposals he agreed with, and will be a coalition of two or more parties. This in
 9

turn is likely to encourage the parties to be more the Swiss, hit by an early wave of anxiety about
ambiguous in what they offer to the electorate, in the immigration and ‘asylum-seekers’, nevertheless
hope of picking up other parties’ votes and thereby refused to make any sharp cut in the number of
being able to join the ruling new coalition. Politics foreigners allowed to work in their country. In 1989,
will get even vaguer. And vagueness is not what the when the Soviet threat was at last vanishing, the
voters of the 21st century seem to want. neutral Swiss asked themselves whether they still
needed an army for any purpose at all, and thoughtfully
Responsibility matures you
decided Yes by a nearly two-to-one margin. The list
A further reason for looking forward to a runs on.
different kind of democracy is that, in an important
Let it be repeated: there is nothing unique about
way, the new sort makes voters more efficient. Direct
the Swiss. They have not been given a special licence
democracy concentrates the voter’s mind. Instead of
for direct democracy. If they can do it sensibly, so
occasionally expressing a vague preference for one
can other comfortable, reasonably well-educated
lot of politicians rather than another lot, he is
regularly invited to answer clear-cut questions, parts of the world.
knowing that his answers will help to decide what How to get it?
the law will henceforth be on those questions. By
giving ordinary people more responsibility, direct So what are the chances of bringing direct
democracy helps them to behave more responsibly. democracy to those other parts of the world, not least
By giving them more power, it teaches them how to to a Britain clearly dissatisfied with the sort of
exercise power. It makes them better voters; and so, politics it has now? On the face of it, the prospect is
you might add, better citizens. not good. The problem is that to get direct democracy
you need to introduce a law which permits it. That is,
Come off it, retort the sceptics; that is just
you need the permission of the people who are the
wishful thinking. It is an automatic assumption
beneficiaries of indirect democracy, those
among supporters of the conventional form of
‘representatives’, and they are understandably
democracy that the ordinary man and woman can be
reluctant to give their consent because this would
trusted to express a general preference for one or
diminish the power and glamour they enjoy under
another of a collection of different parties, each of
which offers a long and complicated list of things the present system. They will therefore go on arguing
that it proposes to do, but that he or she cannot be – despite the evidence to the contrary – that the mass
trusted to make a decision on a specific issue. Give of the population is not capable of taking specific
voters that sort of choice, runs the argument, and decisions, and so the job must be left to them. It is
they will come up with silly answers shaped by self- never easy to persuade anybody to hand over a
interest, prejudice or plain ignorance. The ordinary privilege, and the fingers are especially reluctant to
voter is just not up to serious, detailed politics. let go of this particular privilege.

Sorry, sceptic: that is not what the evidence In fact, it may not be quite that bad. In many of
shows. By far the largest collection of evidence the places where direct democracy has taken root
about the workings of direct democracy comes from since its first Swiss flowering, it did so for one or the
Switzerland, which has been using it for national, other of two historical reasons, neither of which is
cantonal and local purposes for 140 years. One of the likely to be precisely repeated elsewhere, but both of
first Swiss national referendums, in 1866, had to which have a certain resemblance to the angry
decide whether Jews should be given equal rights of disgruntlement now evident in much of the indirect-
residence; the Jews got equality, a remarkable result democracy world – and may therefore foretell where
at a time of widespread racial prejudice. In the 1970s that disgruntlement will lead.
10

In Australia, New Zealand and the mainly In Britain, which has no written constitution, would-
western parts of the United States which use be reformers are left groping in the dark.
referendums and initiatives, the political systems
None of the main British parties has made any
which make this possible took shape in the late 19th
serious move towards direct democracy. The Labour
century and the beginning of the 20th century. Most
government agreed not long ago to let local
of the people then living in those places were the
communities decide by direct vote whether they
descendants of a fairly recent wave of immigrants
wished to elect their mayors directly; but that is as
who had gone there to make a better life for
far as the Labour party has gone. The Conservatives
themselves, had succeeded, and had thereby created
also show little sign of curtailing politicians’ power.
a self-confident society reluctant to let other people
They have lately been agonising over whether the
tell them what to do. They took care, among other
rank and file of the party should be allowed to have
things, to keep a grip on their politicians. The people
of post-1945 Germany and Italy had an even more a voice even in the selection of a new leader, or
compelling reason to do the same, in their memories whether only members of parliament should have
of what Hitler and Mussolini had been like; so they that right. Some reform-minded Conservatives, after
too allowed the creation of politician-controlling their party’s defeat in the May 2005 election,
referendums (though in Germany, oddly, not at the produced a list of interesting new ideas which they
federal level). The same explanation no doubt applies called ‘Direct Democracy’. But this was mainly
to post-communist Lithuania, Latvia, Slovenia and about decentralising government; when they came
Slovakia, all of which make real referendums to the question of law-making, the most the reformers
available to their voters. could suggest was to allow people to petition
parliament in favour of a possible new law – but it
The growing emergence elsewhere of more
would be parliament that decided whether it should
independent-minded, better-educated, politician-
actually become a law. The Liberal Democrats, in
mistrusting electorates may now start to produce
theory the most open-minded of the major parties,
similar results in other countries, and this time
expressed some muffled sympathy for referendums
without the need for a wave of colonists or, please
back in 2001, but then fell silent in last year’s
heaven, another Hitler or Stalin. It will not, of course,
be easily or quickly done. In the United States, the election. In the United States, a stumbling attempt
necessary change to the constitution requires the was recently made at least to collect signatures
backing of two-thirds of the members of both houses asking for a move towards direct democracy at the
of Congress and three-quarters of the 50 states. In national level. In Britain, not even that much has
France, it needs the unlikely blessing of the president been done.
himself and then the support of three-fifths of
parliament. And it could be even tougher in Britain.

The toughest job

The British parliament, ‘the mother of
parliaments’, is an especially stubborn old body. It
claims ‘legislative supremacy’, and accepts
subordination to the people only in the people’s
periodic right to choose a new parliament. In other
countries, there is at least a prescribed way of
changing this sort of thing, by altering the constitution.
The Palace of Westminster
 11

Nevertheless, the rumblings under the ground What the word means
can be felt. If the opinion polls are anything to go by After all, there is a curious illogicality at the heart
– and their consistency suggests they are – a of representative democracy. Democracy rests on the
substantial number of Britons no longer feel that principle that all sane people should have an equal
their country’s political system is what they mean by share in shaping their country’s laws. The ones who
the word democratic. The number is likely to go on get elected at election-time – the new president, the
growing so long as the system remains unchanged. new members of parliament – accept this principle
The politicians profess to be surprised by this, but when it applies to their election. They may think that
they should not be. They should know as well as those who voted for them were wise, and those who
anybody else that the representative system was voted against them were daft, but provided the votes
designed, no doubt suitably, for the 19th-century were lawfully cast they do not challenge the result,
world in which it first came into widespread use, but even though they know the voters had to make a
that the 21st century is creating a very different sort horribly complicated choice as they pored over the
of world. The representatives themselves are long, multi-issue programmes of the rival parties. Yet,
(probably) no less competent than they were in the from the day after the election, the elected
representatives claim that only they are capable of
old days. But the voters have become a great deal
making the decisions which convert the voters’ broad
more competent. The old de haut en bas relationship
choice into the law of the land. The representatives’
between them will therefore not endure. A new, more
claim is not just a rejection of direct democracy. It
equal relationship is needed which gives the voters
challenges the whole principle of democracy.
greater power while leaving the parliamentarians
with the reduced but necessary job they can still This is why many people now think that
democracy is in a state of arrested development. The
usefully perform – the subject-to-your-approval kind
compromise of ‘representative’ democracy is bad
of lawmaking the Swiss parliament does.
both for the representatives themselves, who between
As the disgruntlement grows louder, a predictable elections can too often conceal what they are doing
series of events will take place. The reasons why the with their power, and so be corrupted by it, and for
working of democracy needs to be modernised will the rest of the people, who grow increasingly cynical
come to be more widely understood. A number of about the whole process. It is time for democracy to
parliamentarians will begin to say they agree, either complete its development – to move on to what its
because they are genuinely converted or because name says it is.
they see they will get more votes if they pretend to If you want to find out more about direct democracy,
be. One of the small parties, or the clearer-minded some of the publications you might like to read are:
section of a bigger party, will for the same reason 1. Referendums Around the World, edited by David Butler
join the converts. In the next election, or the one and Austin Ranney (Macmillan).
2. Guidebook to Direct Democracy 2005 (Initiative and
after that, conversion will bring its electoral reward. Referendum Institute Europe – an excellent source of
The penny will drop. And eventually a new act of information).
3. Direct Democracy in Switzerland, by Gregory Fossedal
parliament legalising referendums and initiatives (or (Translation Publishers).
a new clause in the constitution, if Britain has a 4. Swiss Democracy, by Wolf Linder (St Martin’s Press).
5. The New Challenge of Direct Democracy, by Ian Budge
written constitution by then) will come into force. (Polity Press).
The legislators will have sensibly accepted their 6. ‘Full Democracy’, in The Economist, December 21, 1996.

diminished role is a better way of running democracy, Brian Beedham was The Economist’s American
just as Switzerland’s legislators so fruitfully did in correspondent before becoming its foreign editor, and
then associate editor. He first made the case for direct
the mid-19th century. It will take time, but it seems democracy by writing an Economist survey, ‘Full
increasingly likely that time will do the job. Democracy’, in the late 1990s.
12

No laughing matter
Professor David Conway discusses the furore surrounding
the cartoons published by Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten

‘There should always be Second, and more importantly, Locke asserts

charity and goodwill towards the end of his Letter Concerning Toleration
between different beliefs; something that appears to contradict Rees-Mogg:
toleration must be the norm; ‘Uncharitableness… and many other things are
but even toleration has its sins, by the consent of all men, which no man
limits. Locke would not ever said were to be punished by the magistrate.
have believed in insulting The reason is, because they are not prejudicial
publications.’ to other men’s rights, nor do they break the
Professor David Conway public peace of societies.’
So William Rees-Mogg
opined in a February op-ed for The Times entitled This remark implies that, even if the cartoons
‘Tolerating the Intolerable: Even Locke, our greatest were uncharitable towards Muslims because offensive
prophet of liberty, would never have defended those to them, their publication could not be considered
offensive cartoons.’ However, it is far from clear that intolerable, because no one’s rights were violated,
the great British seventeenth century philosopher and they did not breach the peace.
would have condemned the publication of the
notorious set of cartoons that caused such a firestorm Of course, some Muslims have claimed that
of frenzied protest throughout the Muslim world. publication of the cartoons did violate their rights
and those of their co-religionists. But given the
There are several reasons to suppose that, had
content of the cartoons, and the purpose in printing
Locke been alive today, or the cartoons published in
them, it is exceedingly difficult to claim they were
his lifetime, with him knowing all we do now about
designed to incite hatred, rather than draw critical
how easily the teachings of Mohammed can be used
attention to the extent to which Islam seems to attract
to justify military jihad, Locke would not have called
adherents who will take up arms on the slightest
for their censorship – whether enforced by law or
provocation.
opted for voluntarily.
Moreover, not only is there little to indicate that
First, as Rees-Mogg was forced to admit in his
Locke thought anyone had a right not to be offended,
piece, Locke himself was not averse to making the
but even if he had been of that opinion he would
odd remark that he must have known would be
have been clear that the rights in question could be
deeply offensive to British Roman Catholics and the
legitimately abrogated whenever political
atheists of his day. Specifically, Locke denied
circumstances demanded. That is – given what he
members of both groups to be fit for full inclusion
says about Catholics and atheists – when the security
within the British political commonwealth. He did so
and integrity of the realm were in jeopardy.
because he thought the ultimate allegiance of the
former lay with a hostile foreign sovereign, namely Which brings us to a third and final reason why
the Pope. As for the latter, their disbelief precluded Locke would have been unlikely to condemn the
them from being able to swear the relevant oaths by cartoons or supported their suppression.
means of which alone, so Locke believed, the In contrast with his attitude to Roman Catholics
necessary commitments could be guaranteed. and atheists, Locke was prepared to assert that
 13

‘neither Pagan, nor Muhametan, nor Jew ought to be and no fewer than 7 per cent of them thought suicide
excluded from the civil commonwealth, because of bombings in Britain justifiable.
their religion’. However, their eligibility for inclusion The other is that it turns out an Egyptian
within the commonwealth remained conditional newspaper carried the entire set of cartoons last October
upon their willingness to abide by the rule of law and without so much as a murmur of protest at the time.
to accept and observe the other principles constitutive So much for our pandering to Islamic sensitivities:
of a sovereign liberal nation. Were they to prove so much for the cause of the protests being the
unwilling, Locke would not have tolerated them. inherent offensiveness of the cartoons to Muslims.
Although made with interdenominational rivalries in The reasons for the riots had a lot to do with internal
mind, a remark at the end of Locke’s Letter is political tensions extant in each of the Middle
particularly germane to the current unrest among Eastern countries where they occurred.
Muslims in Britain and abroad:
From philosophy to art: since we are looking
‘It is not the diversity of opinions (which cannot back into the turbulent seventeenth century for
be avoided) but the refusal of toleration to those instruction about how best to interpret and respond
that are of different opinions that has produced to religious tensions in our own century, no better
all the bustles and wars that have been in the... example of the matter in practice can be found than
world upon account of religion. [Religious] the debate surrounding a play called The Lancashire
heads and leaders, moved by… insatiable desire Witches by the former poet laureate, Thomas Shadwell.
of dominion, making use of… the credulous The play was first performed in 1681 at the
superstition of the giddy multitude, have height of the Exclusion Crisis when parliamentarians
incensed and animated them against those who sought in vain to block the accession of Charles II’s
dissent from themselves… [T]his… will openly Catholic younger brother James. The play was
continue… so long as… preachers… excite virulently anti-Catholic in having suggested, and not
men to arms and sound the trumpet of war. But without some reason, there was at work in the country
that magistrates should suffer these incendiaries, a conspiracy to re-Catholicise it. Among its other
and disturbers of the public peace might justly salacious delights was the depiction of a witches’
be wondered at; if it did not appear that they black Sabbath and a seditious Irish Roman Catholic
have been invited by them unto a participation priest with the apt name of Tegue O’Divelly.
of the spoil.’
When first performed, Roman Catholics
Substitute for ‘participation of the spoil’ either disguised their true reason for being opposed to the
‘the prospect of Muslim votes’, say, or ‘a covenant play. This was the doubt it raised about their loyalties.
of trust to avoid domestic terror while allowing it to Instead, they focussed their objections on its portrayal
be plotted here for abroad’, and one begins to see of an obsequious young Anglican named Smerk,
how apposite that observation of Locke’s is, as well house-chaplain to an upstanding member of the
as just how decisive a rebuttal it provides of the view English gentry, Sir Edward Hartfort, that is, stout of
Rees-Mogg imputes to him. heart or stout-hearted.

Two things that have recently come to light When first published in 1682, Shadwell offered
warrant further attention, since they add ballast to a prefatory note to the reader in which he recounted
the case for publishing the images. its initial reception. Shadwell began his note by
alluding to the intense religious divisions that marked
One is that, the day after Rees-Mogg’s article his day, especially in London:
appeared, The Times published the findings of a
Populus poll of 500 British Muslims in which it was ‘Fops and knaves are the fittest characters for
revealed that as many as 37 per cent of them believed comedy, and this town was wont to abound with
the Jewish community in Britain a legitimate target, variety of vanities and knaveries till this unhappy
14

division. But all run now into politics, and you

must needs, if you touch upon any humour of
News in brief
this time, offend one of the parties.’
Our Island Stories
H
He goes on to remark that he’d been unable to enrietta Elizabeth Marshall
see how anything in his play could have caused first published her classic
offence to anyone save Catholics – about offending children’s history book Our
whom he seems to have been as little exercised as Island Story in 1905. After that,
Locke – until he learned of the objections raised by narrative history fell out of
closet Catholics on the pretext of the insult given to favour, and as a result, perhaps,
the Anglican Church. the book went out of print for
Although initially licensed for performance half a century. In 2005, to mark
virtually in its entirety, the play was subsequently the centenary of its first publication, Civitas reissued
censored as a result of the protests staged to Ms Marshall’s book in partnership with Galore Park.
accompany its first showings. These protests, claims Since the book’s first publication, Britain has
Shadwell, were artificially engineered by undergone many momentous changes. Not least, the
disingenuous Catholics who hired others to go country has become home to many thousands of
along and sabotage the play. immigrants and asylum-seekers from all parts of the
world, who have arrived on its shores to make new
These planned disruptions did not succeed in
lives for themselves and their families.
their objective because, as Shadwell writes of the
hired protesters, ‘[these] mercenary fellows were To encourage today’s generation of schoolchildren
such fools that they did not know when to hiss and to read and write narrative history, and to bring our
this was evident to all the audience’. In exploring island’s story up to the present day, Civitas is
reasons for the rent-a-mob’s failure, he believed it sponsoring an essay competition to take place in the
important that there were ‘men of great quality and school year 2006/7, open to all schoolchildren in
gentlemen’ willing to stand up and be counted: Years Six and Seven during that school year.
Prizes will be awarded for the best essays in each
‘To my great satisfaction they came off as meanly year group that describe some significant way in
as I could wish. I had so numerous an assembly which Britain has undergone change in the last
of the best sort of men, who stood so generously century or else has otherwise been caught up in
in my defence, for the first three days, that they momentous events.
quash’d all right the vain attempts of my enemies,
For further information, see: http://www.civitas.
the inconsiderable party of hissers yielded, and
org.uk/essaycomp/background.php
the play lived in spite of them.’

This episode should reinforce the resolve of The Retreat of Reason

those who realise what is at stake over the cartoons.
We should not be misled by faulty Lockean exegesis.
Nor should we give in to the hectoring hordes that
S ales of Anthony Browne’s most recent Civitas
book, The Retreat of Reason: Political correctness
and the corruption of public debate in modern
threaten our freedom of expression.
Britain, have been strong since the launch in January
and, like our other bestseller, Conspicuous Compassion,
This article first appeared in an extended form as a it receives ongoing attention in the media.
blog on the Civitas website, www.civitas.org.uk AC Grayling, writing in the New Statesman,
welcomed the attack on political correctness:
‘although the case is familiar,’ he wrote, ‘constant
 15

iteration of it is necessary, and Browne’s is a The most pleasing aspect of the day was the range
particularly good statement.’ Martin Wolf in the and the quality of questions that were put forward by
Financial Times, Melanie Phillips in the Daily Mail the assembled students, who seemed both engaged
and Rod Liddle in the Spectator were among a wide and open-minded in challenging what was being
audience who agreed. presented to them. School feedback from the event
But if the reviews were good, and the Civitas postbag has been very positive, and a lot of interest appears
was full to bursting with expressions of gratitude and to have been generated in the EU-education
praise, the book also stirred up a hornet’s nest. The programme as a whole. There is definite enthusiasm
controversy was perhaps epitomised by Browne’s from teachers for a similar event next year, and we
encounter with Yasmin Alibhai-Brown on the Today are looking into organising it within the next
programme. few months to allow us maximum time to secure
delegate bookings.
In the Postscript to the second edition, the author
writes entertainingly and trenchantly about this radio
spat, and others. The new edition also contains a The churches and
commentary by Professor David Conway. You can
obtain a copy directly from the Civitas office, or by
welfare
going to our website: http://www.civitas.org.uk/shop/
acatalog/Civil_Society.html. A merican historian Frank
Prochaska led a fascinating
seminar for Civitas at the Reform
Club in March on the subject of
EU conference his new book: Christianity and
Social Service in Modern Britain: The Disinherited
Spirit. The book shows how caring professions
such as teaching, nursing and social work all grew
out of the Christian spirit of service to one’s
neighbour, and how the church threw away the
moral capital accrued over centuries when it gave
away most of these services to the state in the post-
Second World War settlement of the welfare state.
Frank Prochaska’s talk received three thoughtful
and thought-provoking commentaries from Andreas
Photograph: Noah da Costa Whittam-Smith, Ferdinand Mount and Frank Field

T he EU Education programme’s national sixth-

form conference, ‘Where now for the European
Union?’, took place in The Emmanuel Centre,
MP. The conference came at an apposite time as the
Church of England had recently announced the sale
of its Octavia Hill estates in South London, set up
Westminster, on March 8th. to provide affordable housing for working-class
tenants over a hundred years ago, to a commercial
Approximately 700 delegates attended, from schools
landlord. Well-informed delegates asked a series of
as far away as Newcastle and South Wales. An
probing questions.
excellent selection of speakers from both sides of the
European debate provided six talks, which covered The book, published by Oxford University Press, is
the institutional framework of the EU, the Euro and available at a reduced price to Civitas supporters
European economics and the future of the EU after from the OUP website: www.oup.co.uk/sale/
the constitutional ‘no’ votes. WEBPROCH
16
The back page interview

A very nice man

Nick Seddon talks to Rick Williams, CEO of the New Model School (NMS)

He’s a very nice man, he really is a very, very the teachers.’ I ask a question with my the next five years.
nice man, and he has a knack for fixing eyebrows. ‘If in Britain the problem is too In the current first
things, schools in particular. Which makes many skills and not enough knowledge, year there are 14
Rick education’s answer to the man from the in Nigeria the opposite is true. We had to children; in 2006-
AA. Whilst we’re here, I’d like to make a teach the teachers.’ So he shipped seven of 07 there will be 34;
point of reclaiming the word ‘nice’, because them back to Blighty on a sort of teacher another 45 have
it’s a better word than people give it credit training tour. been registered for
for, and it implies a very English nebula of 2007-08; and four
After a couple of years, the Academy
virtues. In Rick’s case, think decent, – who’ve only just
was ranked among the best in the country,
courteous, attentive chap, then add in a been born – are
wicked sense of humour, and you’re and it continues growing: it opened in 2003 registered for
beginning to get the picture. If Mr Williams with 56 pupils, by the second year they had 2010.
ever gave his pupils a drubbing, he 300, and there are now 500. By the sounds of
things it was an intense, exhausting, The most
certainly left the stern side of him behind in
rewarding experience, with some extreme urgent thing facing ‘An easy challenge
the classroom.
highs and lows. Almost as an afterthought, Rick right now is would be
So we’ve established that he’s been a he mentions that he was asked to give a property – on two an oxymoron.’
teacher, but I’m interested in how he’s come speech at the birthday dinner for the Nigerian fronts. The first is
to be running the NMS project, so we sit Education Minister. ‘Because I was white,’ the search for a
down over a coffee and Rick joins some of he says, almost apologetically, though I new home for the school (something bigger
the dots. After training as a mathematician, suspect it had rather more to do with his gifts is needed). The second is the search for a
he spent twenty years teaching in the state as a leader and teacher. new home for him and his wife (he commutes
sector, becoming deputy head in two large weekly from York to London). Both searches
comprehensives, before a chance meeting – What, I wonder out loud, are the real have been going on for some time now. ‘Not
he was playing the double bass in a jazz band strengths of all these private start-up schools much to do with being a teacher, is it,’ he
where the drummer was a headmaster – led – in Abuja, in London? In reply, his emphasis laughs. ‘I can’t wait till it’s all sorted. The
him to be deputy head at Queen Margaret’s, is on broadening choice, the opportunity to
smile will come back then.’ In all honesty, I
a private school in York. Five years after that do – and offer – something different.
hadn’t noticed that the smile had gone away,
he was made headmaster at a girls’ Traditional methods, discipline, basic skills
but, still, I say, it must be pretty hard. ‘It is,’
public school in Suffolk. St Felix was in and knowledge: the NMS is about using old
he confirms, ‘but then an easy challenge
trouble when he arrived; while he was there templates for fresh innovations. ‘Forwards,’
would be an oxymoron.’
it reached twenty-third in the Daily Mail he observes with typical gnomic wisdom,
league table. ‘sometimes is back’. The aim is to set up a He played rugby till he was in his
bursary scheme for the very poor. Likewise, mid-thirties, is a mean golfer, has stood
Following that, something more exotic. the Supplementary Saturday schools in Kings up to threatening locals in Togo, and
After a year as headmaster at a British Cross and Whitechapel, which it’s hoped even seems to be surviving the demands of
international school in Togo, his final job will act as feeders to the NMS, are heavily parents in London. You get the feeling that
before moving to Civitas was as founding subsidised by Civitas subscribers and other he lives for challenges: he might be nice,
principal of Capital Science Academy, a donors. ‘The generosity’, he comments, ‘has but if you thought nice meant soft, better
private school in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria. been staggering.’ think again.
‘As you’ve gathered,’ he says with a wink, ‘I
haven’t gone for an easy life.’ You don’t say. Rick didn’t set the school up, but under Further information about the New Model
And how do you go about making such a his charge it’s going from strength to strength. Schools project is available on our website
gamble pay off? ‘The key,’ he tells me, ‘was The plan is to have ten opened or planned in www.newmodelschool.co.uk

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