Blueprint for the next successful political party in Germany
It’s not easy to get excited about German politics these days. In fact, most Germans I talk to have grown pretty frustrated over the years with the way politics is organized.
By and large, the political parties lack agility and drive, their platforms don’t seem to grasp the big picture challenges the country is facing and their personnel is either exhausted or lacks credibility (or both). There are no stars around anymore, and I dare you to try to remember the last time a political idea, concept or proposal made you go “wow!”
So, what if you were to re-engineer a political party in Germany today? Here’s a quick sketch, probably highly flawed, of five principles that I believe could make almost any party fairly popular within a few years.
A market with so many unhappy customers will be a huge opportunity for whoever manages to figure out how to do things differently, politically speaking.
Just sayin’…
September 1st, 2009 at 12:13 am
Another way to look at it is this list of challenges that most political parties in Germany seem to be facing (in no particular order):
* Credibility problem
* Motivational problem
* Communications problem
* Competency problem
* Leadership problem
* Demographic problem
The graph touches upon some of these but could be refined to include more detail.
September 8th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
[...] @fabsh take a peek at what I just read
http://www.plansphere.com/blog/?p=717 [...]
September 8th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
[...] RT @esdaniel @fabsh take a peek at what I just read
http://www.plansphere.com/blog/?p=717 [...]
September 8th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Possibly related forum post from early last year (in German)
http://partei20.mixxt.de/networks/forum/thread.394#posting_394_1338
September 8th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
A sixth element to the map above could be:
“embraces highest ethical standards”
This should include but is not limited to full disclosure of conflicts of interest, paid and unpaid roles and positions, fact checking-friendly documentation, open meeting calendars, transparent budget etc.
I know, dream on…
September 25th, 2009 at 8:39 am
This seems pretty much like fitting the Pirate Party (International movement), called “Piratenpartei” in Germany. It has its origin in Sweden and demands a transparent state, open access, civil rights, reformation of the copyright law, …
Moreover, everybody can participate on Wiki, Forum, Mailinglist etc. and enroll in working groups.
November 11th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
“A market with so many unhappy customers will be a huge opportunity for whoever manages to figure out how to do things differently, politically speaking.”
A populist leader? I hope not.
The phrase above reminds me of the late 30’s.
November 11th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Thanks for the concern, Phil! That was not the intent of this post, though. Sorry if that was unclear.
What I was referring to is the opportunity (in my view, at least) for any of the political parties or candidates to win over frustrated voters by being more transparent, participatory and open and by taking on more of a facilitator role to help citizens with their political engagement.
Hope that makes better sense now.
November 12th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
That makes sense, indeed.
Speaking for myself: I’m not sure which problem is bigger:
the fact that people does not seem to be interested in politics
or the absence of participatory and open parties …
… not only but also in a country like Germany.