Trust Democracy’s first Annual General Meeting, held in April 2021, was a lively event, that began with a speech from researcher and writer Max Rashbrooke. Max’s talk, entitled ‘Overcoming the Obstacles to Deeper Democracy in New Zealand’, was thought provoking, and and a lively question and answer session followed his speech.
Participation is what empowers the crowd, deliberation is what makes it wise. It’s what brings the scattered wisdom of the crowd to the surface. I think when you’re doing democracy in ways that are more deliberative and participatory, you’ve got decisions that are simply better because more people are involved. They’re fairer: they’re more likely to favour the interests of those traditionally excluded from political processes. The decisions are seen as more legitimate because more people have been involved in them. And they are more open and more transparent.
Max Rashbrooke
You can also read the text of Max’s speech.
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