We often discuss the reform of public services and reform of democracy separately, as if reform could take place in one area without affecting the other. As well as “providing services”, public service organisations are also bound by a duty to “be democratic”. People often confuse this with associating the “being democratic” with specific structures (like committees) or processess (scrutiny).<\/p>\n
Others see public services as just another service, however it is run. The former risks dividing up the “what people decide” and “what people deliver” into separate functions. The latter risks services being provided without necessarily being democratic or accountable.<\/p>\n
The “Open House – Creating democratic organisations for the 21st century<\/a>” event organised by @hublaunchpad & @globalnet21\u00a0reminded me of how we at\u00a0European Alternatives<\/a>\u00a0pivoted from a network into a cooperative – a midnight visualisation of how we would organise democratically in a different way, using the analogy with\u00a0how a flower grows<\/a>.<\/p>\n I asked myself, if only local public services, businesses and civil society could come up with new forms of democratic organisation in such an emergent way!<\/p>\n