We are lucky to have a stable and relatively functional political system in the UK, for all the recent drama, and we should avoid throwing away that heritage in pursuit of change for its own sake.
But in addition to the obvious short-term challenge of rebuilding faith in our political and economic system, we face some difficult long-term issues that require 21st century solutions.
Faced with the plunder of the banks, their answer has been to bail out the bankers and hope (again) for trickle down effects, rather than invest in people and services to create value and wealth. They have spectacularly failed to deal with both boom and bust, and they continue pulling their big 20th century levers despite the fact these are no longer working. Although the government realises the internet has a key role to play, the recent Digital Britain report shows
just how little they understand the online world. Aside from the obvious conclusion that universal broadband (which should be 8Mb as a minimum) is a necessary enabler to an inclusive digital economy, the report seems firmly located in the 1990s world of ‘content providers’, copyright restrictions and network operators. We need to show the political elite what to do, and get on with fixing things before they get much worse.
Over the past decade, we have learned a lot about how network thinking and specifically the social web can dramatically reduce the costs of co-ordination and collective action, allowing new ways of involving people in organisational, democratic or social processes. Many people have argued that government and industry should take advantage of these innovations to create more people-powered organisations. Now, in the face of serious crises in both the economy and the political system, and in the middle of a recession that calls into question whether we can even afford ‘business as usual’, it is time to take a serious look at how we can leverage human talent, energy and creativity to begin rebooting the system to create sustainable, affordable, long-term mechanisms for public engagement.
We have been talking about e-government for years, and have made steady progress with some of the enablers, such as online service provision, the Government Gateway and a growing awareness among civil servants about online public engagement. But so far, this work has remained very much within existing organisational boundaries. It has focused on how to enable communication and limited interaction between government and citizens, but has not yet changed either the workings of government or the role of citizens in that process.
To read the full link click on the link
My comment: The key is to enable the politically alienated to have a vision of an alternative and see the things they can do to create that alternative. What is the vision? What are the understanding and tools that we all need to effect real, positive change?
The new media will play a major part - the formula of accumulated anger x expenses scandal x new media = a degree of complexity the like of which I've not previously seen.
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