Merrelyn Emery: Introduction to participative design for participative democracy

A new and major wave of activity to democratize is now evident in Australia. It ranges across the Office Structures Review in the Public Service, various second tier wage/productivity agreements signed by major institutions to a continuing sequence of smaller scale changes in both private and public sectors. In short, those who forecast the end of democratization when there was a slackening of interest and a sense of demoralization about the problems involved in the first waves, underestimated the power of a good idea. The immediate sources of the new wave are many but these are less important than the fact that this good idea is now much more in tune with a large proportion of people's aspirations and values.

By Merrelyn Emery

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