Link to Part One
By Arular Arudpragasam
While the open-ended western democracy is a source of many intractable problems, the idea of Constituted Democracy overcomes them, and still retains the positive aspects of the democracy such as freedom and change, without undermining the stability, security, and sustainability of nations.
Constituted Democracy Idea in Brief
(April 18, Geneva, Sri Lanka Guardian) A Constituted Democracy (CD) has two main components. One component is its policy, or the party political process, which has three policy tracts within one party. There shall be only one party in a nation, but within that one party there shall be three independent ideological organisations of Right, Left and Centre.
In a practical sense, these constructs will be structured like three separate and independent parties, but bound together by the rules of a single party, regulated by its Political Affairs Committee (Figure 1). The three ideologically based organs will function independently within the legislature, but during Elections and after the Elections, they will always come together and form a coalition government facilitated by the structure and process of the single party.
The leader of the wing that gets the highest number of votes will be the Prime Minister, while the other two would become deputy Prime Ministers.
The second component of Constituted Democracy encompasses the sovereign process, which is determined through an independent procedure called Active Embodiment of Sovereignty (AES). These are the two main components of Constituted Democracy.
Rejection of the Multi Party System
Constituted Democracy rejects the multi-party system as well as the totalitarian and restrictive single party democracy. It retains the positive aspects of both the multi-party system and the single party system, while it rejects the negative aspects of both. The CD system overcomes the flaws of open democracy while democracy’s benefits are secured. It eliminates the divisiveness of democracy, and its alienating culture, ends the perpetual strife and discord of multi-partyism, and establishes an inclusive political process.
The Political Affairs Committee (PAC) regulates and controls the policy process, maintains discipline, and assures the smooth functioning of the CD Party. It stamps out extremism and corruption of any sort and retains and supervises the orderly conduct of the Party’s affairs. The Political Affairs Committee resolves any disputes between the three ideological streams with regard to appropriation of subjects, and also conflicts resulting from overlapping policies, and keeps the policy process and the party on track. The coalition cabinet implements the decisions of the government, and leads the legislative process in the legislature. The three independent ideological structures will have their own committees to take forward their policies among the people and in the legislature.
The political Affairs Committee (PAC) will not interfere with the government, the legislative process or the judiciary. Its main purpose is to supervise and guide the party’s policy process, and assure the unity of the party. The Political Affairs Committee will be constituted through nominations from the party’s three wings.
The Policy Process of the Party
Though in recent times the demarcation between the world’s three ideological streams has become blurred, mainly by the assault of liberal democracy and political opportunism of the left, contradictions between the three ideological streams are based on objective realities. The conflict between the ‘I’ and the ‘We’ is historical and natural, transcending time. Though Constituted Democracy rejects the stands of irreconcilability of both Marxist and liberal democracies, the conflict between the ‘I’ and the ‘We’ exists within oneself. In the same way that such conflict exists within oneself, and the individual has to find a middle way for his harmonious existence, the ‘I’ and ‘We’ conflict also exists within societies as a whole, and the society has to find a middle way for its harmonious existence.
It is the middle path that evolves the path of consensus. If the conflict becomes intractable, the Political Affairs Committee will intervene to end the conflict within the policy streams of Right, Left and Centre. The content of the three ideological streams which would soon become reasonably well established over a period of time. Based on the current notions, I have listed and appropriated various ideological positions in the following Table 1. There could be some later dissensions over this table, but as the founder of the idea of Constituted Democracy, I have suggested this division initially, which could be later refined in particular aspects by others as they gain ongoing experience.
Past ideological struggles of humanity have had a strenuous history in the form of pendulamic swings, especially in European history, which have influenced the policy processes in other countries as well. The ideological content of streams of right, left and centre have gained considerable theoretical and practical experience. The above tabulation is drawn from such experience and from struggles yet continuing. Thus, Table 1 is based on the current political conflicts in the world, which within the context of democracy, continue to exist as open and upended conflicts influencing decision making within democracies.
When any one of the ideological streams grabs power through democracy or revolution, and goes out to stamp out the other two, and consolidates a state of usurpation, this initiates a perpetual struggle by the other two ideological streams. The natural disposition of human beings and society leads to a yearning for the values of the ideological streams that are outlawed and excluded.
The ideological contradiction of the world today is also determined by the fundamental historical contradiction between barbarism and civilisation, and its current manifestations. Though individualism and collectivism are part of a civilised nation’s value system, barbaric traditions of usurpation, plunder and rejection of normative structuralism has considerably influenced the emergence of various ideologies, and consequent claims of universality of ideological systems and their culture of exclusion. The barbaric culture of irreconcilability with civilisations, and urge for domination, hide behind much of both Marxist and liberal democratic thinking and claims of exclusivity, rejecting the civilisational foundation of normative structuralism. While Marxism advances its agenda of domination through the over-assertion of collectivism, liberal democracy seeks its domination through the over-assertion of individual freedom.
In reality there has been superimposition of the two streams of human existence, viz., barbarism and civilisation, for a considerable period of time, which has left many societies in a state limbo, when it comes to adopting a harmonious value system. This indecisiveness and superimposition has made open democracy a necessary form of government, as it sustains the state of conflict. By consolidating the state of perpetual conflict, ideological indeterminacy is made the foundation of democratic governance, and is tagged as freedom.
In a Constituted Democracy, the possibility for harmonious integration of the three ideological streams is arrived at by observing the wholeness of the nature of individual, who within him is called upon to a balance the three states of being namly, the I, We and the Middle Way. In the same way, the conflict of the society too is determined by the values of the three streams. In constituted Democracy, opportunity is provided for choice through a democratic process to determine the nature of aspirational urge within society to provide a harmonious governance.
As almost all the ideologies mentioned in Table 1 have come with a degree of claim to supremacy and exclusivity, their integration into the three ideological streams of Constituted Democracy calls for some pruning and harmonisation within each stream and with those in other streams. It will be for the acumen and tenacity of political leaders to evolve and determine the contours of pursuance of their policies, and if there is any serious intractable ideological conflict, it will be for the Political Affairs Committee to intervene and resolve the dispute or clear the cloud and assure a coherent policy process.
The right, left and centre positions are entrenched in all societies, and are influenced by their base value systems based on religious or cultural and traditional foundations. This enables the regulation of the policy process to be effected within their base traditions, avoiding sectoral usurpation and eroding and challenging the base value system. As Constituted Democracy is distinguished by a unifying culture as opposed to the divisive culture of open democracy, progress and harmony are integrated in constituted democracy, as opposed to divisiveness and alienation of democracies which eventually accumulates to undermine the whole system.
The General Election and Parliament in a Constituted Democracy
In a constituted democracy, equal number of representatives are elected for the three ideological streams for the legislature. So each electorate will elect three members, one from right, one from left, and one from centre. For each electorate there will be a list of left candidates, a list of right candidates and a list of candidates of the centre.
But whichever stream gets more votes will become the Prime Minister and the other two, deputy Prime Ministers. The cabinet posts will be distributed according to the percentage of votes cast to each stream, and the Political Affairs Committee will prepare the common programme of the government giving due consideration to peoples’ inclination at the time of elections. The Parliament is illustrated in Figure 2The three ideological divisions would enable any possible issue that could come up for legislation to be appropriated into any one of the three ideological divisions. There will be opposition to any issue, and a centrist position in all issues. A bill could be brought by any one of the three, and as long as any one of the other two can be brought in to support, the bill will get passed giving a two third support for the law.
If the bill has been from the extreme left or extreme right, it will get moderated in the process of getting the support of the other. There are well-entrenched policy programmes that are right, left or centre, in subjects like education, health, and economy and so on. Constituted Democracy allows pursuance of any of the policy lines to form a rational point of view without permanently binding them to any one track of ideological stream.
The sovereign process in a Constituted Democracy
Sovereignty cannot be taken for granted or be established through a simple majoritarian process as any shortcomings in our embodying of sovereignty usually lead to serious constitutional conflicts, ending with barrel-of-gun solutions. In the Constituted Democracy, the sovereign process is separated from the party political process. In traditional civilised societies, normative structuralism provides the social foundations, which determine the authority structures. Barbaric democracy cannot comprehend this reality and it seeks to undermine these traditional structures, and this leads to many conflicts. In Constituted Democracy these trust structures and newly evolving structures are x-rayed, recognised and identified, and provided with validity and legitimately empowered enabling the society to be at peace with itself and feel secure.
This is established through a different process to that of elections. Representing the inalienable sovereignty of the people, people are distributed a sovereign tablet that will be numbered and distributed to all eligible voters. These individual sovereign tablets will be passed upwards, and registered at every stage. Say, the first stage is three hundred tablets, equalling the size of a hamlet or a village. All those who have got three hundred or more tablets will register their name in a given time, say, one month. The next stage is thousand tablets. Then it will be five thousand tablets and so on. This will allow us the knowledge of the trust structures that form the sovereignty of a nation. Finally there will be one person who will be the sovereign head of the nation heading the Constitutional Council, as shown in Figure 3.
If a situation arises when an individual cannot collect the required number of tablets within the stipulated period, the sovereign tablets can be entrusted to a common bank, which will in turn be entrusted in the end to that of the head of state. However this can only be a rare occurrence, since every one will want to be part of the integrative process and there will be many with whom one can entrust the tablets through negotiations.
As the process moves upwards, there will be negotiations that will be an active integrative process of the nation before the sovereign tablets are entrusted to another. This sovereign process also eliminates the power claims, competitions and misrepresentations, and the strife that power struggles generate in societies especially between political structures and non-political structures. Authority structures form a natural part of civilised societies. The leadership of societies, and security and stability and the economic wellbeing depend greatly on their exercise of this power. As a result of barbaric origins of democracy, it fails to recognise these power structures that are based on normative structuralism; the result is unending conflicts in democracies. These power structures evolve in a natural atmosphere, and they need not to be politicised.
The Active Embodiment process also gives better protection to minorities. The sovereign process enables the election of community leaders from scattered people, and institutes trust structures, which get recognised in the sovereign process. The religious leaderships also get recognised, and their power base is secured, ending religious strife as well as its conflict with political process. The upward movement of sovereign process enables the social and constitutional integration of nations, and facilitates a harmonious power process.
Eventually the sovereign process leads to the establishment of the Constitutional Council with people holding higher number of sovereign tablets, and finally, the sovereign integration of Constitutional Head of State. Unlike the current constitutional heads of state in democracies who are elected through simple majoritarian process, who very often command only a minority loyalty and support (or elected by people who are elected through simple majoritarian process), the sovereign process in a Constituted Democracy enable total embodiment of sovereignty, and harmonious constitutional integration.
The sovereign process is independent of the policy process in a Constituted Democracy. The sovereign process in a Constituted Democracy, through a proactive empowering process, recognises these trust structures and empowers those who are at the apex of trust structures by being appointed to chairmanship of governing structures, integrating the two processes, the executive and empowerment.
The pro-active Chairmanship drawn from the sovereign process (that will be apart of the governing process) will be neutral, while the executive power will be with the political party and bound by the policy process. The neutrality of the sovereign process is different from the ideological middle path that represents a policy process of middle path. See Figure 4 for a diagrammatic representation of this concept.The Judicial Process in a Constituted Democracy
The judicial process in Constituted Democracy is aligned to the sovereign structure, and the Constitutional Council makes the judicial appointments and regulates it. The most important characteristic of the judicial process is the introduction of the arbitration and mutual settlement process within the Judiciary. Instead of the defence and prosecution process, judiciary in a Constituted Democracy integrates arbitration as part of the judicial process seeking congruence with the political process, which is distinguished by the provision of the middle path. The arbitration process will be integrated as part of the court proceedings. Accordingly, the court sittings will make provision for the seating of the arbitration lawyers facing the Judges. It shall be the duty of the arbitration lawyers to resolve disputes on the basis of mutual accommodation, especially where families are involved.
Judicial and police powers will be given to the leaders of trust structures, in the sovereign process, to resolve local issues, keeping to local customs. This enables effective judicial decision-making at lower levels, especially when the issues are community-related or religious. This will enable speedier and more effective delivery of justice and conflict resolution, at local levels. As the sovereign process and knowledge of trust structures will enormously facilitate smooth functioning of the judicial process, unnecessary political influence and interference in maintaining the social peace will end. The Administrative Process in a Constituted Democracy
The unifying nature of Constituted Democracy makes the administrative process smooth and effective, and devoid of influences of competitive politics. The government servants need not pretend they are apolitical, as the political process is inclusive, and enables implementation of programmes without accusation of political partiality. Constituted Democracy allows fuller exercise of political rights by government servants which is their democratic right.
Constituted Democracy enables participation of administrators in politics, and open identification with any one of the ideological party structures, as they eventually belong to one party. As policies will be based on needs and joint decisions rather than on personalities, it will be possible for administrators to become members of any one of the ideological streams and still act freely implementing the policies of the government. The question of neutrality of civil service, which very often leads to conflicts between the administrative and political process, need not arise, and that allows more dedicated civil servants to function independently, without the fear of their political masters.
Constituted Democracy enables the administrators to stand for elections as the process will not lead to victimisation or lead to fear of identification of one’s political inclination. The inclusive nature of the political process in a Constituted Democracy eliminates many of the difficulties of government servants standing for elections, and also their fear of being victimised or losing their careers after losing the elections. Government servants who do not want to be political too, have the opportunity to slant towards the sovereign process and build trust among people, and can be elected as trustees in societies.
The Transcending Nature of Constituted Democracy
As with democracy, where the simple majoritarian decision-making is transcends throughout the society, the Constituted Democratic process transcends and replaces the simple majoritarian decision making process throughout society. This enables the establishment of a broader consensual and moderated decision-making process, enhancing togetherness in society. The divisiveness and alienation of the simple majoritarian system affects society at various levels, and its elimination in government alone will not be sufficient to end political alienation.
Elimination of the Multi-Party system and its replacement with a Constituted Democratic Party enables the coming together of political forces at all levels of society and government, including the local governments where the process of three wings within one party will take hold. The concerns and aspirations of even a village community falls into the policy process, as interests of the whole village predominate, as opposed to the interests of the individual members. This applies to even private institutions and corporations, where the interest of the corporations, as opposed to interests of individuals and share holders, assumes importance.
In an ad-hoc manner, the Constituted Democratic procedure can start with the formulation of the issue in hand, and identifying people who are for and against within the group, separating out the neutralists who will occupy the middle ground. The Chairman will conduct the proceedings until the position is moderated to provide a two stream majority decision. Constituted Democratic Procedure can be adapted even to a meeting under a tree. However, consensual process is often the foundation of decision-making as in many village councils where Constituted Democratic procedure may not be necessary, as all civilisations have upheld consensual decision-making process as a norm. Streamlining and identifying conflicts as those between the I and the collective, enables clear identification of interests, and placating them though a consensual decision making process, eliminating their current corruptive culture of pursuance of vested individualistic interests in the name of serving people.
The Constituted Democratic Federal Polity
The harmonious integration of the policy process, government, judiciary and the sovereign process in Constituted Democracy enables restructuring of constitutions to provide for the effective rationalisation of governing process through devolution of powers to constituent nations. The uniformity of identity realms, and existing base governing traditions and rights perceptions based historical titles to territory and self rule, makes devolution of power imperative for the establishment of harmonious governing process in multi national nations.
This becomes more so important when, in unitary states, simple majoritarianism has been abused to advance sectarianism and chauvinist ideals to undermine and alienate section of people leading to break down of governmental process. When identity instruments like language and religion have been legitimately used as a tool to limit benefits of government to section of people, and to discriminate people through the abuse of the democratic process, often driving people into revolt against what they see as an unjust rule, when those discriminated demand self-rule and arrangements for self-preservation and opportunities for self-development, then federal restructures become inevitable for harmonious existence of nations.In a Constituted Democracy, the unifying power of one party and the process of active embodiment of sovereignty enable the providing of substantial local autonomy to sectors of commonalities to effect rationalisation along the contours of uniformity, provide for effective governance, and also guarantee the freedom of people.
Slogans and aspirations that could be easily turned into rights through their pursuance in a simple majoritarian democracy, and made instruments of discrimination and permanent disability, making nations into becoming beacon of misrule and bane of humanity, disappear, in a Constituted Democracy, through the opportunity for meaningful dialogue and devolution of power to regions as all people belong to one party.
As regions are provided with autonomy, the Constituted Democratic Party too has a regionally devolved party structure that articulates the right, left and centrist policies with regard to devolved subjects, under the supervision of one Political Affairs Committee of the party, thus preventing any forces of division usurping power. The party will have regional structures for regions, and national structure for the national government that will be concerned with national issues and powers, in which all shall participate. The threat of centrifugal forces that tend to pull away due to the alienating character of the multi-party simple majoritarianism will be absent in the unifying single party process in a Constituted Democracy.
Conclusion
Constituted Democracy will never fail. For, as explained above in detail, it has absorbed the positives from the liberal multi-party democracy, and from the single-party rule. It integrates the opportunities needed for progress, with the need for security, stability and sustainability. This, by all standards, is therefore, the perfect political system for which there has been an enduring search from the time of Aristotle. I have studied all political systems, and lived in the Soviet Union, India, and UK, and I have been involved in the trials and tribulations of my own country, Sri Lanka where I have been searching for a workable national constitution for over thirty years, and the solution I have worked out is presented as Constituted Democracy.
Constituted Democracy Idea is thus a fully proved systemic idea, and my entire efforts as a philosopher, scientist, engineer and revolutionary in search of a perfect political system, which started while I was a student, when I became involved in the Soviet Democratic Movement, is now concluded. I can confidently assure that the Constituted Democracy idea will never fail, since it is a harmonious, vibrant, unifying and sustainable political system for the future of humanity. It is now open for any country to become a Constituted Democracy, set the standards for the rest of the world, banishing the scourge of multipartyism from the face of this earth.
The author is the Director General of the programme Global Sustainability Initiative, Trincomalee and can be reached by email at: globsustain@hotmail.com
The ‘Idea of Constituted Democracy’ is a Foundation Lecture of the GSI Programme. -Sri Lanka Guardian
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