The whole can not be more democratic than the parts

A lot of effort is devoted to the idea of democratic reform of parliament, and rightly so, as it is very far from representative and that undermines the integrity of our democracy. However even if we did manage to achieve Mixed Member Proportional representation, with elements of sortition, the glaring lack of democracy in political parties as institutions that dominate our democracy would still be undermining the functioning of democracy in our country.

Political parties dominate our system of government, despite only being tangentially mentioned in the constitution, and importantly being virtually unregulated by the law or the courts. There is a incentive to register with the relevant electoral commissions and some very limited disclosure of donations, and that is the sum total of regulation of political parties.

Political parties as institutions, functioning largely unhindered by any standards, are also perhaps unsurprisingly overwhelmingly undemocratic. The iron law of oligarchy has long since taken hold of the major parties. Given their dominance of the political system this lack of internal democracy has significant negative flow-on effects for the implementation of democracy in the country.

Hollowing out of the membership of political parties have made them not only less and less representative of the general population, but more and more susceptible to undemocratic practices. The ALP and Liberals are in a very real sense little more than brands rather than political movements. There is no substantive control of either party by the membership, with members reduced to being merely a source of free labour/cheer squad.

Political party membership has correspondingly shrunk, even more so if we discount branch stacking. These are not mass membership parties as they once were, with the total membership of all parties now being a minuscule proportion of the population. Policy is being determined solely by either parliamentarians or leadership staff. The sop to the ALP membership regarding determining the leadership was designed so as the entire membership was able to be vetoed by the caucus.

That caucus, as is those of the conservatives, is made up of former candidates who are regularly determined either centrally and/or by factions and imposed on the membership and then in turn the electorate. In our unrepresentative system, the parliamentary contest is almost always either between the two cartel preselected candidates, or for safe seats basically the preselection of the relevant party determines the parliamentarian. Preselections conducted by corrupt, undemocratic organisations overwhelmingly predetermine who will be in parliament.


Unfortunately in our society the practice of democracy has contracted down to merely this act of voting on choices predetermined by these corrupt organisations every several years, and even that participation is being undermined, for instance with voters supporting longer terms. Voting against democracy, seems to be increasingly common.

Modern democracy emerged from civil society, in the form of clubs, associations, unions, co-operatives, even some churches, and the decline of democracy can be seen in these institutions as well. The practice of democracy on this more intimate level has been undermined by the growth of the organisations involved often reducing members in practice to passive observers, the general tendency towards centralisation, and perhaps the modelling of declining democracy given by the public parliamentary process. People don't really experience much democracy in their day-to-day lives anymore.

Perhaps the most glaring sphere lacking democracy, the one doing most to undermine democracy in other spheres, is the corporate sector, where democracy never took hold in the first place, and which overwhelmingly still operates on something akin to a neo-feudal basis. There are exceptions like co-operatives, but these are in a minority, and in the wider undemocratic context in business have often struggled to maintain their democratic ethos.

The lack of democracy inherent in current business practices, and increasingly in civil society contributes to the undermining democracy at the national level, and vice versa, and likely addressing that decline will require a rejuvenation in these organisations, to then in turn flow to greater expectations in state, national and international contexts.

We probably need to address the issue from all angles, requiring democratic reform of political parties, and seeking to rejuvenate democracy in civil society, and introduce it to the corporate sector. All such reforms would reinforce positive change in the other sectors, much as their decline is reinforcing negative change at present.

The tide is currently against democracy, a principle and practice that has emerged through significant struggle relatively recently in history, that is seemingly underappreciated at present, but it still is maintained by most as an ideal, and it is one worth fighting for. There is hope, in the ability to use new technology, and new innovations in democratic organisations, and combinations of these two developments. Democracy takes work (eternal vigilance), and likely constant innovation to survive and thrive, but it can and must.