Direct Democracy in Reykjavík: The Wisdom of the Icelandic Crowd-Sourcers

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Direct Democracy in Reykjavík: The Wisdom of the Icelandic Crowd-Sourcers

Thursday, 03 October 2013 09:07
By Steve Rushton, Occupy.com | Report


Better Reykjavík is one of the pioneering direct democracy projects originating from Iceland. By harnessing the collective wisdom of the crowd, it enables people to connect directly with political power and could be applied far beyond Iceland's shores.

In conversations with Occupy.com, its developers explained how, along with the financial crash that hit the island hard in 2008, Icelanders’ trust in politicians also crashed. In reaction, two eDemocracy pioneers decided to look at ways to use the internet to give citizens a way to get their voices heard.

They created the online platform Your Priorities, which was first used within Better Reykjavik. During the 2009 elections for mayor of Iceland’s capital, each candidate was given an equal space to use the site. The Best Party used it most widely, and went on to win an election in which 10% of voters took part and created some 1,000 policy initiatives. Since then, the new mayor has continued to implement citizen-led legislation.

Better Reykjavik was started by the Citizens Foundation, an advocacy NGO focusing on direct democracy. I sent the project’s founders, Gunnar Grímsson and Róbert Bjarnason, an extensive set of questions. In response, the crowd-sourcers collaborated on their answers. ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/news/item/19200-direct-democracy-in-reykjavik-the-wisdom-of-the-icelandic-crowd-sourcers

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