Our current democratic system is like a twentieth-century computer trying to run twenty-first century programmes. We need to upgrade our system, drawing on our untapped abilities as citizens. Things like citizens’ assemblies and crowdsourcing laws are the way of the future – mechanisms that allow us, as ordinary individuals, to step up and take a much more direct role in discussing the issues and shaping the big political decisions that affect our lives.
Max Rashbrooke is the J. D. Stout Fellow at Victoria University of Wellington, and has written extensively on issues of economic inequality and democratic renewal. The author of multiple books, including Government for the Public Good: The Surprising Science of Large-Scale Collective Action, he is a regular commentator in domestic and international media. You can find him at maxrashbrooke.org.nz and @MaxRashbrooke on Twitter.
