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Post-Brexit: Democracy on majority is a formula for chaos
Post-Brexit: Democracy on majority is a formula for chaos
1/7/16
Many are reeling after Britain voted on
Thursday to leave the European Union, but some who voted in favor of
the Brexit are wondering just what they've gotten themselves into. And, that gives us an ironical view on
Western democracy.
In the wake of the historic vote, stock
markets have plunged and the value of the British pound dropped to its lowest
value in 31 years, prompting many to regret their decision to vote for the
Brexit. By late Friday, a parliamentary petition had been launched – and was gathering signatures at
the rate of roughly 1,000 names per minute, reported the Independent – to hold a second vote.
"Even though I voted to leave, this
morning I woke up and I just – the reality did actually hit me," one voter
told Britain's ITV News. "If I had the opportunity to vote again, it would be
to stay."
Some of the voters who backed Britain leaving the EU have revealed their
regret over the choice after Leave triumphed in the referendum. Electoral services workers have reported calls from people
asking if they could change their decision after Friday’s result became clear,
while some publicly admitted they intended to use a “protest vote” in the
belief the UK was certain to remain in the European Union.
The anxiety – dubbed
“Bregret” – emerged as the value of the pound tumbled and markets crashed,
while somefelt betrayed by Nigel
Farage’s admission that
a Vote Leave poster pledging to spend millions of pounds supposedly given to
the EU on the NHS was a “mistake”.
A woman calling into
an LBC radio show echoed the sentiment, saying she felt “conned” by the claim
and felt “a bit sick”. A voter who gave his name as Adam told the BBC he would
have changed his pro-Brexit vote if he knew the short-term consequences it
would have for the UK economy.
"The David
Cameron resignation has blown me away to be honest and the period of
uncertainty that we’re going to be magnified now so yeah, I’m quite worried,”
he said. "I'm shocked that we voted for Leave, I didn't think that was
going to happen. I didn't think my vote was going to matter too much because I
thought we were just going to remain."
More than one million
people regret their vote to leave the European Union, an opinion poll carried out in the wake of the
Brexit decision suggests. Of the 17.4 million people who voted Leave, 1.1
million now say they wish they had not, if the results of a Survation poll
are to be believed. Another Brexit voter tweeted: "Urm, I think I kind of
regret my vote. I had no real reason to pick what I did!". Meanwhile, a petition for a second referendum on EU
membership has garnered more than 3.6 million votes.
Brexit.
It seemed like a great idea at the time. But now they look at the years of
political unrest and global financial turmoil they just unleashed on the rest of the world, and they're starting to think maybe it wasn't
such a hot idea. British knew David Cameron threatened to resign if they all
voted "Leave," but none of us thought he'd actually go ahead and do
it. To be honest, they didn't actually think their votes would, like, count. What does that tell us
about Western democracy? Is it really democratic? But, no matter what, now all
can see the consequence of Western-styled democracy.
This isn’t democracy,
it is Russian roulette for republics. A decision of enormous consequence – far
greater even than amending a country’s constitution (of course, the United
Kingdom lacks a written one) – has been made without any appropriate checks and
balances.
The idea that somehow any decision
reached anytime by majority rule is necessarily “democratic” is a perversion of
the term. Modern democracies have evolved systems of checks and balances to
protect the interests of minorities and to avoid making uninformed decisions
with catastrophic consequences. The greater and more lasting the decision, the
higher the hurdles.
The UK vote has thrown
Europe into turmoil. A lot will depend on how the world reacts and how the UK
government manages to reconstitute itself. It is important to take stock not
just of the outcome, though, but of the process. Any action to redefine a
long-standing arrangement on a country’s borders ought to require a lot more
than a simple majority in a one-time vote. The current international norm of
simple majority rule is, as we have just seen, a formula for chaos.
There
may, in certain circumstances, be an argument for referendums in our politics.
But the argument has to be better than that we have had some referendums in the
past or that a lot of the public would like one. Democracy must depend on
people’s intellectual standards of the people. People will always agree they want a say. Yet it is far from
obvious that a system of referendums strengthens trust in democracy./.
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All comments [ 11 ]
The result has sparked plans for a second independence referendum in Scotland, where all electoral districts voted Remain, and a petition for London to declare independence from the rest of the UK and apply to join the EU.
So ironical that many voters have since spoken out saying they are shocked at the poll's outcome and did not believe their Leave votes would actually count.
Yes, democracy must be commensurate with people's knowledge.
Does the vote have to be repeated after a year to be sure? No. Does a majority in Parliament have to support Brexit? Apparently not. Did the UK’s population really know what they were voting on? Absolutely not. Indeed, no one has any idea of the consequences, both for the UK in the global trading system, or the effect on domestic political stability. I am afraid it is not going to be a pretty picture.
With Europe now facing the risk of a slew of further breakup votes, an urgent question is whether there is a better way to make these decisions.
For one thing, the Brexit decision may have looked simple on the ballot, but in truth no one knows what comes next after a leave vote.
The UK vote has thrown Europe into turmoil. A lot will depend on how the world reacts and how the UK government manages to reconstitute itself.
Any action to redefine a long-standing arrangement on a country’s borders ought to require a lot more than a simple majority in a one-time vote.
This outcome could undermines the legitimacy of legislators by suggesting that real democracy can only come directly from the people instead.
I think referendums about questions that would otherwise be handled by the legislatures the people have already elected.
All of this was, perhaps, predictable, as some political scientists and historians have warned that a simple yes-or-no public referendum can be a terrible way to make a decision with such complex repercussions.
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