Direct democracy via app

I remain extremely skeptical of direct democracy for obvious reasons. Still, there are cases where it could work, and a city-level might be one of them. My concern is that it is (and has been right from the start) vulnerable to self-interested rhetoricians and ideologues with no real interest in the common good. Direct democracy at the state level is good for the revolutionary throw-off-the-shackles-of-oppression phase but lousy when things settle down.

Mr Soto turned to technology to open up the decision-making process. Decide Madrid is an online platform with 400,000 users in the Spanish capital. Any of them can propose an idea, which, if backed by 27,662 other users (1% of the city's adult population), goes to a referendum. "It is voted on by the people, not the council. The politicians cannot block it," Mr Soto says.

Other cities where left-wing coalitions swept to power in 2015 - including Barcelona and Valencia - have also set up participative systems to take collective decisions on public facilities – and on how to spend part of their budgets. In Madrid's process, citizens can vote online or in person to decide how to allocate €100 million in spending - a significant part of the council's total investments every year.

This month Madrid plans to launch Mr Soto's most far-reaching reform yet - an "observatory" of 57 citizens selected at random to advise the city's 57 councillors. Mr Soto explains that an algorithm will ensure that observatory members will be representative of Madrid's social diversity, with a one-year mandate and access to expert assistance to reach well-informed decisions.

Now that idea I'd very much like to see trialled on the level of national governments.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46799768