Oration Menno Hurenkamp: 'Reciprocity to counter democracy poverty'
12 April 2024
Our democratic imagination is drying up, says Menno Hurenkamp, professor of Democracy as Human Work. What is needed is new life in our imagination of democracy. This can be done by seeing democracy as people's work, with four criteria at the centre: equality, ownership, participation and reciprocity. On 12 April, he delivered his oration at the University of Humanistic Studies entitled Valse vrienden? Democratiearmoede en wat eraan te doen ('False friends? Democracy poverty and what to do about it'). You can download the oration.
For those who care about democracy, there is plenty of cause for vigilance in 2024. The rise of populism and how we live in "bubbles" has created "democracy poverty", says Menno Hurenkamp. "We think the loudest vote counts, we retreat into our own sphere, and we care about the rule of law, but not or much less about implementation. Democracy poverty is the calcification of our ability to get along as equals among ourselves, despite differences of opinion on culture, despite differences in income or wealth."
People's work
Something can be done about this, thinks Hurenkamp, although it requires an effort from all of us. It starts with understanding that democracy is people's work. He explains this using four criteria by which to measure democracy. "The first criterion of democracy is that no one should feel serfed or subservient. Can all citizens look straight at each other without fear of the other? Second, everyone should feel some ownership. All those beautiful institutions, the laws, social services, houses, roads, schools should belong to all of us a little bit and we should have equal access to them."
The third criterion for democracy as people's work is equal participation. "Honest dialogue is crucial for good decisions. Without involvement of the people for whom policies are, those policies usually don't make sense." The fourth criterion for democracy as a people's work is reciprocity. "You cannot dismiss other people's views in advance as illegitimate or outdated; then you suggest that they are not citizens. Without trying to put yourself in others' shoes, there is no room for opinion change."
Reciprocity
These four criteria are under fire from 'false friends', from contemporary narratives that lead to the impoverishment of our conversation about democracy. Needless to say, improving the existing representative democracy is necessary, as is experimenting with innovations in the interaction between citizens and administrators. But it is also about being able to put ourselves in each other's shoes from time to time.
"There is a gap in our thinking and doing about democracy, and that gap takes the form of reciprocity. Therefore, in the coming years, I want to explore, especially in local initiative and citizen collaborations, how we can complement the two current strategies to strengthen democracy. How can reciprocity take shape? When do people succeed in empathising with others, what does it take, how long does it take and what consequences do citizens attach to it? How do people cherish a collective identity in addition to their cherished identity for a while? In other words: Where is the potential to breathe new life into our imagination of democracy? This is important because, even if we tend to forget this: democracy works."
On 12 April 2024, Menno Hurenkamp delivered his oration on democracy at the University of Humanistic Studies entitled False friends? Democracy poverty and what to do about it.