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Iceland’s next Parliamentary elections aren’t until 2017. But as soon as they’ve been held and a new government has been elected, a new constitution will be submitted to the new Parliament.
And it won’t have been written by any political parties or politicians. It will have been written by regular citizens.
You may remember Iceland declared bankruptcy at the end of 2008, thanks to huge debt and the global financial crisis.
Financial settlements between the country’s government, the international financial community and Iceland’s creditors meant every person in the country would have to pay around 100 Euros a month, for fifteen years, at 5.5% interest, to pay off the debts incurred by private parties.
The government launched investigations into those responsible. And Icelanders set about writing their own constitution, one that freed them from the power of international finance.
To do so, they elected 25 people from a pool of 522 citizens who had all been recommended by at least 30 people.
And they wrote the new constitution on the Internet. Meetings are streamed online and viewers can send in their suggestions and comments. It just may well be the most civilized revolution in history.
You can read more about Iceland’s brand of direct democracy in a New Statesman article entitled Iceland’s elections – A shattered fairytale
