2008-2011 will be known in history as a period of great recession. Especially for the people of Iceland. After the severe economic recession thousands of people of Iceland started to be actively involved in the political (and financial) life of their country - first steps were made on November 15, 2008 when thousands of people of Iceland went to protest.
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| Photo by: Oliver Wilke |
But protests were not the only signs of civil participation in the after-crisis Iceland. Iceland took government crowdsourcing to the next level when the people decided that they should use the collective wisdom to draft their constitution. Today Iceland has the worlds' first crowdsourced constitution.
The Facebook page for the initiative has over 6000 followers. Today it is not active, but just couple years ago the people of Iceland and the international community were witnessing and participating in this historical event.
I would highly recommend to watch the TED talk of Gurdun Petursdottir - she describes the events of 2008-2011. Petursdottir was the chairman of constitution committee which had a task to gather information for a democratically chosen constitutional counsel.
Can Crowdsourcing work for new Turkish Constitution? Indeed Iceland is doing it. I think Turkey should try it. The last Turkish election is evident of the people’s willingness to have a more balanced and inclusive government. And last year, more than half the population voted to endorse modifications to Turkey’s constitution.
ReplyDeleteCrowdsourcing is definitely a good way to get up close and personal with needs and expectations of the people. The process has the potential to make the government truly about the people. Taking input from citizens, allow for a more collaborative form of government. The unseasoned ideas offered give the government clear insight into what’s important to the citizens and what they want to see happen in their country.
So if Turkey is going to reach to the public to create a constitution, then social media channels must be utilized as form of communication for democratic reform. Facebook is the leading social media network for many in Turkey. 84% of all Internet users have an account on Facebook says a report. Public discussion, ideas, deliberations and updates can be achieved through social media as evident of Iceland’s approach.