Devolution/Regionalization or centralization
nowadays it seems like all the politics is going to be more and more centralised. In Europe the (yet centralized) national states give more and more power to the EU whereas the EU itself is bound to supranational organisation esp. under controle of the USA. The people and with that the europeans lose their power to have influence on politics as more and more power is in the hands of a few.
To me the only way to stop this development is to oppose the principle of centralisation with the counter-principle of devolution/regionalization. Politics should be made from the bottom up. So every decision that can be made by a small regional community and regards just the community should be made there. Other political decision must of course be made by the national-state, by a federation or in some cases even worldwide (problems of environmental protection f. ex.), but only if necessary.
I live in Germany. By travelling around in the different federal states I realize so many different mentalities and cultural characteristics that a strict centralization even in terms of a national state just doesn´t make any sense to me (though I know that to most of the nationalists the nation is kind of dogma and to query this is an affront).
Another point is that I am not a proponent of authoritarian systems. They are just to susceptible to tyranny. But democracy doesn´t work in to complicated, centralized systems. The average citizen has no clue of questions of abstract politics. He is interested in his personal environment his district/quarter and his region. Not more or less. So every decision that can be made there should be made there. As much autonomy and as less centralisation as possible. Decisions should be made by direct democracy.
To me, that´s the only way to bring back, to preserve and to develope the different, unique european cultures...
What do you think about this?
U.A.I.U.
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Wednesday, May 24th, 2006
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