[p2p-research] Smári McCarthy's Agenda for the Icelandic Constitutional Assembly

[Michel Bauwens]

a commons-friendly set of policy proposals:


Smári McCarthy's Agenda for the Icelandic Constitutional Assembly
>From P2P Foundation** Text: My Agenda and Emphasis for the Icelandic
Constitutional Assembly. By Smári
McCarthy<http://p2pfoundation.net/Sm%C3%A1ri_McCarthy>(
smari at immi.is). November 19, 2010*

URL = http://www.smarimccarthy.com/issues_english.pdf
   Contents[hide <javascript:toggleToc()>]

   - 1 Text<http://p2pfoundation.net/Sm%C3%A1ri_McCarthy%27s_Agenda_for_the_Icelandic_Constitutional_Assembly#Text>
      - 1.1 1 Direct democracy & distribution of
authority<http://p2pfoundation.net/Sm%C3%A1ri_McCarthy%27s_Agenda_for_the_Icelandic_Constitutional_Assembly#1_Direct_democracy_.26_distribution_of_authority>
      - 1.2 2 Representative
accountability<http://p2pfoundation.net/Sm%C3%A1ri_McCarthy%27s_Agenda_for_the_Icelandic_Constitutional_Assembly#2_Representative_accountability>
      - 1.3 3 Transparency and information
rights<http://p2pfoundation.net/Sm%C3%A1ri_McCarthy%27s_Agenda_for_the_Icelandic_Constitutional_Assembly#3_Transparency_and_information_rights>
      - 1.4 4 Freedom of
expression<http://p2pfoundation.net/Sm%C3%A1ri_McCarthy%27s_Agenda_for_the_Icelandic_Constitutional_Assembly#4_Freedom_of_expression>
      - 1.5 5 Freedom of
association<http://p2pfoundation.net/Sm%C3%A1ri_McCarthy%27s_Agenda_for_the_Icelandic_Constitutional_Assembly#5_Freedom_of_association>
      - 1.6 6 Guaranteed basic
income<http://p2pfoundation.net/Sm%C3%A1ri_McCarthy%27s_Agenda_for_the_Icelandic_Constitutional_Assembly#6_Guaranteed_basic_income>
      - 1.7 7 Distribution of resources and
sustainability<http://p2pfoundation.net/Sm%C3%A1ri_McCarthy%27s_Agenda_for_the_Icelandic_Constitutional_Assembly#7_Distribution_of_resources_and_sustainability>
      - 1.8 8 Other
issues<http://p2pfoundation.net/Sm%C3%A1ri_McCarthy%27s_Agenda_for_the_Icelandic_Constitutional_Assembly#8_Other_issues>

 [edit<http://p2pfoundation.net/Sm%C3%A1ri_McCarthy%27s_Agenda_for_the_Icelandic_Constitutional_Assembly?title=Sm%C3%A1ri_McCarthy%27s_Agenda_for_the_Icelandic_Constitutional_Assembly&action=edit&section=1>
] Text [edit<http://p2pfoundation.net/Sm%C3%A1ri_McCarthy%27s_Agenda_for_the_Icelandic_Constitutional_Assembly?title=Sm%C3%A1ri_McCarthy%27s_Agenda_for_the_Icelandic_Constitutional_Assembly&action=edit&section=2>
] 1 Direct democracy & distribution of authority

Representative democracy is, topologically speaking, an advanced form of
dictatorship.

To put into the hands of few the ability to make decisions that effect the
whole can at worst be the prelude to corruption and power disequilibrium.

At best it is a gross oversimplification of the will of the individuals that
form the polity, as political interests in representative systems serve to
drive opinions towards a relatively small set of common denominators.

On various scales direct democracy has been tried, and has been shown to be
effective. Although care must be taken in the design of such a system of
self-representation, to avoid systemic feedback effects and paradoxical
games, there are clear methods which can be used to acheive this goal.

A modern approach to this has been dubbed ”crowdsourced democracy”, whereby
those who have a particular interest in a particular matter participate to
the degree they feel is appropriate, and those who have less interest can
opt to abstain or, more interestingly, transfer their vote to any third
party who has a vote of her own. This maximizes both the political freedom
of individuals to participate and the likelihood of well informed
individuals leading the discussions on any given topic.

Exact implementation details are beyond the scope of a constitution, as
such, but I am interested in attempting to enact into a constitution some
form of direct democracy as far as it is reasonable and suitable to the
current political environment in Iceland." (
http://www.smarimccarthy.com/issues_english.pdf)


[edit<http://p2pfoundation.net/Sm%C3%A1ri_McCarthy%27s_Agenda_for_the_Icelandic_Constitutional_Assembly?title=Sm%C3%A1ri_McCarthy%27s_Agenda_for_the_Icelandic_Constitutional_Assembly&action=edit&section=3>
] 2 Representative accountability

As far as representation of some form does go, such as in international fora
or public or regional assemblies, it is imperative that representatives of a
polity express the informed will of their constituents and report back in an
adequate way. Far too long has post-representation been the norm in
international discourse, where representatives of representatives represent
specific agendas which are frequently kept out of the public sphere and are
often contradictory to the will of the people comprising the polity.

An example of this, from 2003, was the decision of then prime minister Davíd
Oddsson and then foreign minister Halldór Blöndal to unilaterally declare
support for the invasion of Iraq and participation in the Coallition of the
Willing, without parliamentary debate or public referendum.

A less obvious example would be the decision of Iceland’s delegate to the
United Nations abstaining in a vote to support the universal right of all
humans to clean water. Had this issue been put to public referendum the
general public would surely have supported such a right - and this actually
applies to most countries.

Representatives of a polity must be accountable to the polity, and
constitutional statements to that effect should be clear. They should be
required to seek the opinion of the people, and after participating in fora
provide information about what topics were discussed, why they are of
interest or importance, what position the representative took on behalf of
the polity, and what justification exists for such a position.


[edit<http://p2pfoundation.net/Sm%C3%A1ri_McCarthy%27s_Agenda_for_the_Icelandic_Constitutional_Assembly?title=Sm%C3%A1ri_McCarthy%27s_Agenda_for_the_Icelandic_Constitutional_Assembly&action=edit&section=4>
] 3 Transparency and information rights

In that vein, the right to information is paramount. Information is an
absolute precondition for democracy.

All government data must be available to the public, and for that purpose
the foundations for a freedom of information law should be engrained in the
constitution. Exceptions to is rule should only be made for very explicit
concerns for public - not state - security, and should be decided by an
independent panel selected at random from the census, or for privacy
concerns, in which case the public listing of such a document should include
clear justification of why the document is redacted from the public record.

For the purposes of representative accountability and government
transparency, a complete traceable history of all decisions and the
processes used to achieve them should be recorded.

The constitution is, of course, not the appropriate place to make statements
regarding exact implementation, but it is most certainly the place to make
clear statements regarding public data transparency, financial transparency,
open access to information, and the right to know.


[edit<http://p2pfoundation.net/Sm%C3%A1ri_McCarthy%27s_Agenda_for_the_Icelandic_Constitutional_Assembly?title=Sm%C3%A1ri_McCarthy%27s_Agenda_for_the_Icelandic_Constitutional_Assembly&action=edit&section=5>
] 4 Freedom of expression

The right to know is only beneficial if it correlates with a right to share
what you know. An absolute freedom of expression should be guaranteed in the
constitution, without such limitations or exceptions as are counted up in
the current constitution or the European convention on human rights.

Returning to the free speech ideal embodied in the revolutionary
constitutions of France and the United States is of the greatest importance
now in this time of near-instantaneous communications. The Internet has
altered the space the human mind is capable of navigating to such an extent
that all over the world, repressive entities are attempting to limit our
capacity for communication, to a great extent out of fear of what may come
from an enlightened public.

We must modernize free speech in this constitution in such a way that we set
an example for other countries.


[edit<http://p2pfoundation.net/Sm%C3%A1ri_McCarthy%27s_Agenda_for_the_Icelandic_Constitutional_Assembly?title=Sm%C3%A1ri_McCarthy%27s_Agenda_for_the_Icelandic_Constitutional_Assembly&action=edit&section=6>
] 5 Freedom of association

The freedom of association has been, in Iceland, interestingly restricted in
a number of ways. Although none of these restrictions has been nafarious or
endemic, they have had systemic consequences which have been to the
detriment of society.

On the one hand, the existence of a state church has created a
disequilibrium between the various faiths and non-faiths represented in the
country. While 80% of the population is registered in the Evangelical
Lutheran state-sponsored church, a overwhelming majority of the population
have been shown to be either agnostic or atheist. The membership of the
church is artificially amplified by various circumstances, such as the
difficulty of leaving the church (which requires going to a particular
office in a Reykjavík business district), the fact that children are
automatically registered to the same denomination as their mother (rather
than having them opt in), and most peculiarly, that newborn children of
secular mothers get automatically registered to the state church.

To quote Hope Knutsson from Siðmennt (the Icelandic society of ethical
humanists),

”In the year 2000 the Icelandic government spent billions of kronur on a
year’s worth of anniversary celebrations of 1000 years of Christianity in
Iceland. They prepared an outdoor weekend Christianity festival that they
estimated 75,000 people would come to and re-routed traffic for that part of
the country. Only 8000 people showed up in addition to the staff,
performers, and foreign dignitaries. [...] Government and church leaders
tried to justify the wasted money for more than a year afterward to the
disgruntled public.” [1]<http://sidmennt.is/english/samt-the-atheist-society/>

The separation of church and state is not an important concern for the
creation of a new constitution, per se, but this illustrates a more serious
problem.

Looking at how pension funds, collecting societies, industrial and business
associations and other such organizations operate, a similar trend emerges.
Indeed, the European Court of Human Rights has on two occasions in recent
years found the Icelandic state guilty of violating associative rights for
levvying an ”industrial activity charge” from industrial workers which goes
to support Samtök Iðnaðarins, an organization of industrial stakeholders.

In short, the right to free association must be better guaranteed and more
vigilently upheld than is currently the case.


[edit<http://p2pfoundation.net/Sm%C3%A1ri_McCarthy%27s_Agenda_for_the_Icelandic_Constitutional_Assembly?title=Sm%C3%A1ri_McCarthy%27s_Agenda_for_the_Icelandic_Constitutional_Assembly&action=edit&section=7>
] 6 Guaranteed basic income

With an unemployment rate of 6.4% down from 9.1% at its peak in 2009, but up
from the pre-crash level of roughly 1.9% (source: Datamarket), Iceland’s
workforce and economy are, despite everything, very active. The GDP of
Iceland when adjusted for PPP, comes out at roughly 28,000 EUR per capita
per year, or around 6 million ISK (source: IMF).

Already the state operates a fairly powerful economic safety net for people,
with an unemployment benefit fund funded from a 4% insurance tax on all
wages, and a municipal financial support system for those who aren’t
ellegible for unemployment benefits. In 2008 the average annual wages on the
labor market were roughly 3.6 million ISK per year (source: Hagstofa
Íslands), with full unemployment benefits amounting to 1.8 million ISK per
year (source: Vinnumálastofnun).

Under such circumstances the notion of basic income is not far fetched. The
net systemic effect of guaranteeing basic income is minimal, as it would
only serve to calm the frayed nerves of those who for various reasons cannot
seek employment. Also, by adopting a single income guarantee system it would
be possible to simplify the disabilities, pensions and unemployment benefits
systems significantly, reducing the overall cost of system maintenance.

The adoption of a basic income system would potentially benefit Iceland’s
economy by virtue of the ”candlestick problem”. It has been shown
empirically that economic incentives decrease creativity whereas they
increase productivity in labor intensive unskilled jobs. By creating a basic
income the issue of survival will be, for many, pushed off the table,
leaving headroom and mindspace to focus on creative ventures, which have a
greater potential social and economic benefit than industrial production.

Iceland would not be the only country seriously considering this
possibility. In the European Parliament resolution 2009/2205 on the role of
women in an aging society, article 35 states amongst other things, that the
European Parliament ”invites the Commission to consider a system where all
men and women in the EU are granted the right to a basic income that is
dependent on the Member State’s standard of living;”

Without going into implementation details, for there are a plethora of
viable approaches to basic income, it would be reasonable to include a
constitutional statement regarding the right of all to a basic income,
which, if worded correctly, could lead to the adoption of such a system
within not too many years.


[edit<http://p2pfoundation.net/Sm%C3%A1ri_McCarthy%27s_Agenda_for_the_Icelandic_Constitutional_Assembly?title=Sm%C3%A1ri_McCarthy%27s_Agenda_for_the_Icelandic_Constitutional_Assembly&action=edit&section=8>
] 7 Distribution of resources and sustainability

Iceland is a country of many resources. Fish, water, silicon, basalt and
energy are amongst the many natural resources which can be found here in
plenty. However, without a clear mechanism to facilitate the equal
distribution of these resources amongst the people, or at least in such a
way that all members of the population benefit from the use of these
resources, the potential for inequality is great.


[edit<http://p2pfoundation.net/Sm%C3%A1ri_McCarthy%27s_Agenda_for_the_Icelandic_Constitutional_Assembly?title=Sm%C3%A1ri_McCarthy%27s_Agenda_for_the_Icelandic_Constitutional_Assembly&action=edit&section=9>
] 8 Other issues

It’s not easy to come up with a new system of governance. There are issues
here I haven’t mentioned in part because for many I have no single answer
and for many I have no answers at all.

Many things I do have clear opinions on in this context, such as not
supporting wars, privacy, land ownership, capital ownership, property
rights, and so on. I know less about how to solve the issue of appointing
judges in a direct democracy, but tend to think that the fact that it’s not
solvable easily may mean that the structure of the judicial system is wrong.
I’m not set on any specific implementation details regarding direct
democracy, but I do think that any limitations in scope for reasons of
scaling or arguments against the wisdom of the crowd are dangerous, and that
we shouldn’t sacrifice aggregate wisdom for the benefit of special
interests.

We should bear in mind that any system will be attacked in various ways, and
that whatever system the constitutional assembly does come up with needs to
be rigorously fault tested, preferably independently by a wide range of
different people with different backgrounds. If there is a way to subvert
the democratic process, then, as we’ve seen all too often, somebody will
find it, and use it to their own advantage. This must not be allowed.

-- 
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