Undemocratic policy-making

There was no proper public discussion, not even a congressional discussion, of the presidential decision to send US Marines into Somalia in 1992. The decision was executed within a few days and most Americans heard about it on the television news.

1. There is a need for long-range planning to meet not only current policy requirements, but also the future implications of present decisions and policies. At present public agencies are no longer representative of the broad and varied populations they are supposed to serve. Policy making is seen as the responsibility of a few specialists, who consider the interests of only certain segments of the population. Consequently, policy decisions are made by few people with little accountability to local communities or the population at large.

2. The 'we' of administrations and supra-regional agencies is a solemn but contourless amoeba (Ivan Illich).

1. Unorganized development efforts
2. Undemocratic social systems
3. Undemocratic organizations
4. Irresponsible policy-making
5. Denial of control over own life
6. Contempt for democratic processes

1. Victimization of grassroots knowledge
2. Unrepresentativeness of trade unions
3. State capture
4. Policy-making by stealth
5. Over-reliance on economic interest groups by policy agencies
6. Non-participation of youth in decision-making bodies
7. Limited decision-making context
8. Limited access to technological decisions
9. Limited access to natural resource use decisions
10. Lack of worker participation in business decision-making
11. Lack of participation of disabled persons in decision-making
12. Lack of brainstorming
13. Ineffectiveness of democratic consultation procedures
14. Inadequate access of indigenous peoples to international decision-making processes
15. Discrimination against women in public life

1. Rebellion
2. Public resentment at government policies
3. Inappropriate policies
4. Elitist control of global economy
5. Denial of political rights

1. Undermining of multilateral forums
2. Unadapted community structures
3. Social isolation
4. Shortage of time for appropriate policy making
5. Restrictive organizational participation
6. Restrictive effects of tradition-bound community decision-making
7. Restricted opportunity for community activity
8. Proliferation of public sector institutions
9. Policy-making bias
10. Messianic image of leadership
11. Lack of systems for achieving grassroots agreement
12. Interlocking corporate directorates
13. Inadequate models of socio-economic development
14. Inability of elected representatives to process feedback from constituents
15. Fragmented decision-making
16. Deficient social planning
17. Decline in civic participation
18. Complex government regulations
19. Centralized decisions on local technological innovation
20. Authoritarian regimes
21. Arrogance of intergovernmental agencies
22. Abdication of responsibility on achieving political office

1. Narrow context for counsel
2. Inadequate corporate governance
3. Global complexity as a hindrance to leadership
4. Exclusion of the masses from setting criteria in judicial judgements
5. Conspiracy against the public

1. Using social exclusion
2. Restricting access to policy formulation processes
3. Reducing inequality in decision making
4. Providing sufficient organized participation
5. Preserving inequality in decision making
6. Installing representative policy makers
7. Entering into conspiracies
8. Condemning undemocratic policy-making
9. Abstaining from organized participation

1. Restriction
2. Exclusion
3. Inequality
4. Conspiracy
5. Lack
6. Undemocratic
7. Unrepresentative