November 2012, Year IV, n. 11
Guðjón Már Guðjónsson
Crowdsourcing democracy: reviving an ancient utopia in a modern style.
Telos: We are fascinated by the “Ministry of Ideas” think tank. Could you tell us where you drew the inspiration for such an initiative from, and could you outline its main achievements?
Bjarni Snæbjörn Jónsson/Guðjón Már Guðjónsson: The Ministry of Ideas was created in January 2009, just after the financial collapse as a new way to approach the various challenges the nation was facing. The creation of this pure grassroots organised Ministry was motivated by the fact that the “political” Ministries were busy and stuck on working on the past ... more
Editorial
The stability of the democratic institutions relies on an unspoken assumption which has huge implications: citizens are collectively sovereign, yet as individuals they have typically no time no resources and no will to be involved in public issues. It is therefore in the interest of the community to empower an élite of enlightened and qualified individuals to take decisions on behalf of the people ... more
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