Rule Over Your City! | EDUCATION GAME | Democracy vs. Sustainability | flashMOOC#4
Channel: Universität Bern
Date: 2022-01-17

Step into the shoes of a small town’s Mayor and work your way up to the federal office. Make sustainable decisions for the benefit of the citizens. Should a food waste app be mandatory or voluntary? Should the majority of voters out rule the minorities? Are political processes even compatible with sustainability? This you will learn in our gamification video.

You can also play this educational game on our website: https://www.flashmoocs.unibe.ch/videos/democracy_sustainability/index_eng.html

This education game is created by iLUB, University of Bern
Voice artists: Anne Wilde and Scott Topper
___________________________________________________________________

𝗗𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗰𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆. Both are principles that can guide decision-making, be it at the level of governments, or even of individual citizens. Both seem important or wishful, but wee will show you that they are in no means all the time compatible. Or said different: some decisions can be democratic but not sustainable and vice versa. 

𝗗𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗰𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘆: it’s nothing else than government or decision-making by the people. Representative democracy is when for example parliaments should represent different interests and stakes of diverse groups of society. In contrast, direct democracy is when people can directly vote or elect. 

𝗦𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆: also in the sustainability discourse, “participation by the people” is an important principle. Following the Brundtland report, one of the reference documents, all people concerned or affected by a problem should also decide about its solution. 

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝗻𝗽𝘂𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗰𝘆: From a sustainability angle, it is thus totally acceptable that young generations fight for their rights, or that scientific experts are consulted in political decision-making. But hese representatives are neither electable nor dismissible by the people, and therefore they are neither accountable nor responsive to them. 

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗽𝘂𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗰𝘆: Does this mean that there is no way to combine both sustainability and principles of  democratic input legitimacy? There is. Direct democracy and deliberative decision-making are two prominent forms of participation by people interested, concerned and motivated about policymaking. This means that policies are a result of discussion and debate among citizens. One downside of such participative forms is the immense amount of time and resources they consume, and the fact that natural hierarchies lead to “government by an elite” rather than “by the people”.

Furthermore, direct and negotiation democracies tend to produce policies that are smooth but are seldom radical or innovative. Most often, it is not the first, but only the second-best solutions that gain widespread support. A consensus or compromise is therefore rarely concise, sober or coherent, but rather resembles a puzzle of different interests that were represented at the table. 

𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻: When non-elected officials make part of decision-making, this can be sustainable, but harm democratic input legitimacy. Deliberation is one form where sustainability and input legitimacy are both performing well. But as often, when the scale swings towards input legitimacy, output legitimacy and thus policy performance might be reduced.

Refences and Notes: see https://www.flashmoocs.unibe.ch/unibe/portal/microsites/micro_flashmoocs/content/e747125/e1164378/e1164387/Zusammenfassung_EN_eng.pdf