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Barnett, Anthony
Anthony Barnett is the Editor of openDemocracy and a non-executive member of the Council of Charter 88. He is the author of Iron Britannia (1982)
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2 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.
Anthony Barnett on democracy
Anthony Barnett, founder of the website, ponders democracy in the UK and the EU. "Here are two ostensibly democratic entities built on much learning and experience. The first regards itself as being the home to the 'mother of parliaments'. But now, more and more of its voters are going on a passive strike and declining to turn up at the polls. Should they be made to vote? But supposing they did, would they be any the wiser and the outcomes any better? Voting for the European Parliament (so-called, for it is not a true legislature) is catastrophically low. The EU generates a lot of legislation and sets standards for hundreds of millions - yet few feel that it enhances their collective 'self-determination'. Would it help to bring a representative cross-section together under conditions that allowed them as regular citizens to deliberate directly on the future of the continent? ... How can citizens engage in a fashion that gives legitimacy and credibility to the outcome?"
» full article (external link, English)
More from the press review on the subject » Europe
A different kind of European dynamic
"Is there a living, breathing Europe? A Europe that is more than an abstract ideal...?" wonders Anthony Barnett, Editor-in-Chief and co-founder of openDemocracy, an on-line publication. He comments ,"The gathering in Brussels of the European Citizens' Consultations on 7-8 October 2006 may prove to be the early stage of a different kind of European dynamic. Europe needs it to be. ... The organisers believe that the conversations that matter about the future of Europe are not the ones taking place in Brussels, but in the different nations themselves. From this point of view, for Europe to come alive there has to be a nationalisation of the European debate. ... They were regular citizens, not the specialists or partisans who tend to monopolise the debate to everyone's detriment, and the national gatherings will open the way for a deeper and more representative input."
» full article (external link, English)
More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Europe
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