Ways of democracy/self-management
As an administrative system in a society and as a means of management these basic democratic principles have not often been put into practice. The only place I know of is Amsterdam, where they have been used as a method of working with urban renewal projects, especially in the Dapperbuurt area in the 70’
In the Vesterbro area of Copenhagen we are at the moment trying to establish such a system in stead of the currently accepted Area Council, which is based on party affiliation and in its parliamentary form is essentially a duplicate of the municipal government, only on a smaller scale. Among other features, it repeats the committee meetings that open up for confidential agreements – one of the reasons why so many people are weary of politics.
If an administration is not governed by politicians through sectorial, politically defined committees, it must have en entirely new structure. This means that our administration must be broken into pieces so that each field has its own independent office defined by its actual/narrow defined function: kindergartens, schools, care or homes for the elderly, roads, parks etc. Each field of operation should be a separate entity responsible for its own budget. The cooperation be-tween the different offices should then take place in ad hoc groups according to what the situation requires – but always in open sessions. When cases demands confidentiality, they must be dealt with in specially appointed smaller groups in stead.
In stead of a fixed representation with people elected for a period of typically four years (in which they have to take a stand on any given issue), a messenger system will let the users and other people with an interest in the matter send a messenger to negotiate on the basis of a predefined mandate.
As mentioned earlier we are trying to work out such a model for the Vesterbro area of Copenhagen, built on the following structure:
Functionally and institutionally defined groups, school boards, parents councils etc., guilds of the street or yard and the like, form an Assembly of the People. Each year an area conference is held, and new groups or project groups can be accepted and thus acquire the administrative status of collaborating partner.
From the assembly an executive committee of 14-15 persons is elected. They have the actual authority of a municipal government. The position as a member should be a public duty so that one is required to meet and liable to punishment if not, and leave of absence should only be granted under special circumstances. Out of the executive committee three persons are elected who are paid and share the mutual responsibility for the manegement of the administration. These people can remain in office for only three years at a time, and each year one of them is replaced in order to avoid corruption.
This governmental structure is not approved, but is currently being debated in the City of Copenhagen as a possible alternative to the Area Councils that have been tried out in Copenhagen as well as in other European cities. In Copenhagen too, they have received a mixed evaluation, and this is why alternatives are now debated. A decision is soon to be made.