An Experiment in Digital Democracy: Will it Work?

An Experiment in Digital Democracy: Will it Work?

How strong is our democracy?  And does the digital age have the potential to strengthen it?

That’s what the citizens of Mexico City are about to find out, in a fascinating experiment in digital democracy.  Just six months ago Mexico City was granted the right to become its own master and now is taking steps to craft its first-ever Constitution. Mexico City mayor Miguel Angel Mancera, seizing this rare opportunity, opened the digital gates, asking citizens to submit petitions to help shape this historic document.

The idea, according to mayor Mancera, as reported in qz.com, “is to bestow the constitution project with a democratic, progressive, inclusive, civic and plural character.”

As an experiment in digital democracy, Mexico City – a metropolitan area home to more than 20 million people – is on the cutting edge. Iceland, a country of 330,000 people, launched a similar experiment some years ago, and similar efforts have been tried around the globe. But nothing approaches the scale and significance of Mexico City. 

Will it work?

By late June, more than 206,000 citizens have raised their voice, submitting a total of 330 petitions. The biggest issues?  Corruption, jobs, access to technology, women’s rights, animal rights and protecting the environment (e.g., taking steps to become a Smart City).  And the mayor is serious: he’s set up more than 300 kiosks around the city for citizens input, guaranteed petitioners the right to meet with his 27-member committee if they garner sufficient support and used results from a detailed “Imagine Your City” survey to guide the crafters.  Further, through pubpub.com (an editing platform similar to Google Docs and created by MIT’s Media Lab), citizens can comment directly on Constitution proposals.

There are skeptics, of course. Digital rights lawyer Antonio Martinez told qz.com: “It’s a bit of a show,” given that the committee is under no legal obligation to incorporate citizen input. But others insist that the process, however flawed, will enhance accountability.  Said Diego Cuesy, a city policy analyst, in the qz.com article: “The platform represents, at the very least, a commitment by the government to listen [and] there will also be an electronic record for everyone to see.”

What’s the process? If a petition garners more than 5,000 supporters, the mayor’s committee will respond. More than 10,000?  Committee members will meet with petitioners. More than 50,000?  Petitioners will address the full committee (by late June, a dozen petitions have passed the 10K mark, with one approaching 50,000, see sidebar, below). Among the 330 petitions in play, said a fusion.net report, are recommendations to: lower the voting age to 16, ban zoos, reduce wages for government officials, increase paid vacation days, extend maternity and paternity leave and ban the sale of junk food in schools. Plus, this notable proposal: requiring Mexico City cops to wear GoPro-style cameras to prevent corruption and abuse of power.

Noted the fusion.net report: “[It’s a] “daunting challenge [to write] a magna carta for a city that has existed for nearly 700 years.” Yet, optimism is high. Said one-time skeptic Francisco Fontano, a young Mexican travel blogger, as quoted at fusion.net: “If this process turns out to be fake and it all fails, it won’t matter because I did what I could . . . I’ve always believed you have to remain idealistic to change things; be a little crazy and always stay positive.”

Good words to live by.

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Sidebar

Digital Democracy: Mexico City’s most popular proposal

Over 200,000 citizens of Mexico City have weighed in, submitting over 330 petitions aimed at shaping the city’s first-ever Constitution, and the most popular proposal to date (48,997 supporters and counting) deals with corruption. The petition reads, in part: “We are tired of seeing every day how public servants in senior positions [receive] high wages and benefits . . . often without meeting a minimally acceptable performance. It is necessary that the new Constitution of the CDMX establishes the right of citizens to good governance, so as to limit and regulate . . . bonuses, benefits, rewards, incentives, bonuses, vouchers, travel expenses, compensation, insurance payments tax or subsidy. . . . In addition, the right to good administration should include a general principle of austerity in public spending.”