ENGAGING THE CITIZENFutures For Civil Society

The Rt Hon George Reid

•The Drivers of Change

•The Challenge of Politics

“The development of a dynamic and responsive strategy for outreach and public engagement”

“We must try to accept that we have a shared past and try to learn from it.

“The differences in our societies must cease to be barriers between us.

“We must learn to live together – not only to be supportive of our respective individual diversities but indeed to be champions of respect and tolerance of others”

N.I. CHALLENGES

• Promotion of Vision and Values

• Division on Religious Boundaries

• Tolerance of Difference

• Collective Campaigns

• Trust in|from the Assembly

• Dependency on State Funding

• Clear unifying Agenda

GOALS OF INQUIRY

• Explore threats and opportunities

• Identify how policy and practice can be enhanced

• Improve ability of civil society to meet future challenges

WHAT IS CIVIL SOCIETY?

• Associational Life• The ‘good’ society

• Arenas for public deliberation

“Civil Society is a goal to aim for, a means to achieve it and a framework for engaging with

each other about ends and means”

FUTURES THINKING

“The purpose of looking at the future is to disturb the present”

PLEASE, NO CONSULTANT SPEAK!

FAULT LINES

• Challenge of Sustainability

• Isolation of the Poorest

• Social Cohesion under Pressure

• Shifting Activism and increasing obstacles to

engaging with civil society

FAULT LINES

• Application of Technology

• Voluntary & Community Organisations lose their

Distinctiveness

• Diminishing Areas for Public Deliberation

• Marginalisation of Dissent

LOCAL LIFE

DIVERSITY WARS

ATHENIAN VOICES

GLOBAL COMPACT

WHAT NEXT?

• Social Justice and Climate Change

• Financial Industry

• The Media

• The Deliberative Process

• Marginalisation of Dissent

ANOTHER FAULT LINE

• Devolution as a Driver of Change

• State no longer sole source of authority

• Responsibility for Civil Society largely

devolved

QUESTION 1

Is Devolution Decentralisation,

power handed down from the Centre?

Or is Devolution a dynamic process,

power rising up from the People?

QUESTION 2

Does the Northern Ireland Assembly

practise Representative Democracy?

Or does the Northern Ireland Assembly

practise Participative Democracy?

COMPARISONS

• Architecture

• Accessibility

• Accountability

• Equal Opportunities

• Sharing of Power

“The development of a dynamic and responsive strategy for outreach and public engagement”

• A People’s Parliament

• Politics too important to leave to the politicians

• Let the People in

• Let the People have their say

• Let the People change law

•

“We must learn to live together – not only to be supportive of our respective individual diversities but indeed to be champions of respect and tolerance of others”

A Civic Agenda?

• Decide Representative or Participative

Democracy

• Decide Decentralisation or

Devolution

A Futures Agenda

• Think Needs not Positions

• Consult with Civic Society

• Open the Assembly to the People

• Agree a Petitions System

• Stand for Election

“Look to the Future. Accept the Challenges. Society fails if the citizen is not engaged.

“Setting an agenda for change is not a burden. It’s a responsibility. And an opportunity to change for good”