As a continuation to introducing direct and indirect democracy, in this episode I will explain what a referendum is and what different types it has. I will also introduce several common voting methods including plurality voting, Condorcet method, instant runoff, score voting, and the electoral college. Then I will carry on to explain what faults these voting methods might have.

Further, I argue that the questions composed for referendums are usually too large and they ignore minority rights. The minorities also will be neglected in many cases of electing representatives.

And finally, I will introduce the notion of The Tyranny of the Majority.

In the end, I would like to ask you to please read and educate yourself about the struggles of Palestinian people, and to please use the right terms when talking about Palestine and Israel. Apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and illegal occupation. Learn about #SheikhJarrah to understand what is going there at the moment when the tensions are high.

The podcast is available to listen to on several platforms.

About Open Source Governance:

Open Source Governance aims to design a blueprint with which a group can collectively and inclusively form questions and find answers that can help organize their community. The project is an interdisciplinary research and social design process that uses debates, workshops, case studies, publications, and other mediums to empower groups to find possible ways of self-governing. This is done by investigating the wisdom of the crowd. At the core of the idea lies the notion of governmentality. The concept departs from the disappointment with the representative systems in inclusively and fairly organizing societies, and observation of available tools (namely open-source programming) that can replace or challenge the current systems in place.

Please have a look at our website and subscribe to our podcast, our newsletter, and follow us on social media if you already did not.

De Gedroomde Stad episode about this project and my artistic practice (episode 4): https://www.cbkrotterdam.nl/nieuws/podcast-de-gedroomde-stad/

sources:

Referendum on Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/topic/referendum
Animation introducing different types of the referendum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaxVCsnox_4
Tyranny of the Majority: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/tyranny-of-the-majority-explained#what-does-tyranny-of-the-majority-mean
Referendums and initiatives: https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-a-referendum-definition-example.html

cover image: Stux

music:

The song about Palestine by Eman Askar, TikTok, IG, FB: @emmasworld.101
Unanswered Questions by Kevin MacLeod
Backed Vibes Clean by Kevin MacLeod
Dances and Dames by Kevin MacLeod
all licensed under Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0)

Categories: episodes