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The six heroes who built the initial Civil democracy platform
The fact that you can today use this first demo implementation of Civil democracy is due to six colleagues who over more then two years with me to turn the idea into reality. On borrowing from my life insurance and with a kickstarter crowdfunding, I had secured some funding and added some personal resources, but that was all. Luckily, Wali Hassan (left), the CEO of Ropstam, Inc., in Toronto, Islamabad, and Delhi, saw the great potential of the idea and agreed to a fixed-sum project within the bounds of the small resources I had been able to gather, and his colleagues joined the project, to build a first working Civil democracy demo on the base of WordPress, both to keep cost down and to easily integrate my existing blog.
I have to say that on the outset we all completely underestimated how much this project was different from all the other hundreds of WordPress projects Ropstam is working on in their daily work. Most software projects take longer than expected, but not many grow from two months to two years! That was often my fault. Among the things we had hugely underestimated was the amount of feedback I would have to give. As an former hermit ivory tower academic and still involved incontinuing to write papers to communicate the idea, although being used to break down things for my students, I often needed a lot of time to load all what had been done into my brain. I am endlessly greatful that finally the journey of creating this initial Civil Democracy platform has been completed through the dedication, vision, and relentless effort of these six exceptional individuals: Dinesh Subramani, Wali Hassan, Suhail Ahmad, Moaz Ellahi, Arslan Arshad, and Muqsit Aziz. Each of them played a pivotal role in turning the ambitious vision of Civil Democracy into reality.
Dinesh Subramani: The Creative Force
Dinesh Subramani, an Indian designer, was the creative genius who transformed the initial wireframes into an eye-pleasing and user-friendly interface. His ability to translate abstract concepts into tangible designs was crucial in ensuring that the platform was not just functional but also intuitive and accessible to users. Dinesh’s designs served as the foundation upon which the entire platform was built, providing a clear, visual representation of the Civil Democracy concept. A wholehearted promotion: If you want to work with Dinesh, visit his accounts. (https://dribbble.com/DineshMessi, https://www.behance.net/dineshmessi1 and https://www.upwork.com/freelancers/~01b7ba6bfc0029c2b6; unfortunately this WordPress theme doesn’t allow for links in posts.)
Wali Hassan: The Visionary Entrepreneur
Wali Hassan, based in Toronto, is the owner and CEO of Ropstam. He saw the potential of Civil Democracy for the non-Western world and agreed to a fixed-price contract for the project’s development. Although we both vastly underestimated the project’s complexity, Wali remained committed through all the time. His perseverance and willingness to see the project through, despite numerous challenges, were instrumental in sustaining momentum when things seemed overwhelming. His belief in the Civil Democracy model as a tool for global change was a driving force that kept the team motivated.
Suhail Ahmad: The Unwavering Project Manager
Suhail Ahmad, the senior developer and project manager, grew with the project. Initially a backend developer, Suhail took on the role of project manager as the complexity of the platform increased. He was the linchpin in communication, ensuring that all team members were aligned and that the project stayed on course. The endless Slack communications and Zoom calls I had with him are a testament to his dedication. Suhail was always friendly, motivated, and succinct, keeping the team’s spirit high and focused on the goal.
Moaz Ellahi: The Frontend Wizard
Turning Dinesh’s Figma designs into a fully functioning frontend was no small feat. Moaz Ellahi, the frontend developer, did this with a congenial spirit and an expert touch. His ability to bring designs to life in a way that was both beautiful and functional was key to making the platform user-friendly. Moaz’s work ensured that the platform was not just a theoretical construct but a practical tool that people could use to engage in meaningful democratic processes.
Arslan Arshad: The Backend Dynamo
When the project was at a crossroads, with complexity overwhelming the team, Arslan Arshad brought new energy and drive. As a backend developer, he tackled the most challenging technical problems, providing innovative solutions that allowed the platform to progress when it seemed stalled. His technical acumen and problem-solving skills were crucial in overcoming some of the most significant obstacles the team faced.
Muqsit Aziz: The Final Puzzle Solver
As the project neared its conclusion, there were still numerous issues to resolve. Muqsit Aziz stepped in with the energy and expertise needed to clear many of the last remaining problems. Working closely with Suhail, Muqsit was instrumental in ensuring that the platform was not just finished, but polished and ready for launch. His contributions in the final stages of development were critical in bringing the project to a successful close.
If you want to work with Wali, Suhail, Moaz, Arslan, and Muqsit, just go to https://www.ropstam.com/. Working with all six is highly recommended!
The Result: A Platform with Global Potential
The Civil Democracy platform aims to cure a long-time overlooked Eurocentrism and Western backwardness of traditional democracy concepts, making the promise of democracy real for everyone in the world. By allowing individuals to entrust their decision-making to civil society actors they believe in, or to participate directly, the platform provides a way for everyone to have an effective say in creating the common good.
The platform’s journey from concept to reality is a testament to what a dedicated team can achieve, even in the face of unforeseen challenges. It stands as a beacon of hope for the future of democracy, proving that with the right people and a shared vision, anything is possible. The six heroes who built this platform have not just created a tool; they have laid the foundation for a new form of global democratic engagement.
Stopping climate change needs a united voice of civil society
Stopping climate change demands a bundled voice of global civil society – and that means it needs Civil democracy. Read here the five steps why this is necessary – and if you want to support to stop climate change, continue with links below.
- Stopping climate change demands a change in life styles around the world. It is not something that can be done by isolated elite action, it needs decisions based on coordinated insight and decisions for coordinated action by all world citizens.
- Stopping climate change demands a lot of knowledge. As acquiring knowledge takes time, a division of labor is needed between individuals who acquire knowledge, form political actors, and develop policy positions together, and individuals who perceive and trust these political actors to benefit from their knowledge. Such political actors exist, and with regards to stopping climate change, exist mostly in the form of environmental NGOs.
- Stopping climate change demands that these two be brought together: We need the participation of individuals and of environmental NGOs in making the decisions that are necessary to bring world society onto the path to sustainability.
In the past, this participation has taken the informal form of NGO consultations. In Rio 1992, this was a step forward. But in Madrid 2019 (and, to be honest, much earlier) it was clear that this model was outdated. Governments around the world decided to concentrate on domestic short-run issues, and the global civil society could do nothing more than lament.
The reason is that global civil society has so far no institutions that allow it to concentrate its diversity into a common voice. Only national governments can claim to represent their societies. Civil society organisations do only stand for themselves, irrespective of the fact that are trusted by millions of world citizens. Because they cannot convincingly show that trust.
- To stop climate change, world society needs a power that is the bundled voice of its responsible citizens. To stop climate change, world citizens need to understand that they are truly responsible, and this is done best through giving them responsibility.
- To stop climate change, world society needs to include its civil society organisations in the formation of that voice. Here are the actors that have the knowledge and the motivation to influence their fellow citizens.
Fighting financial corruption with Civil democracy
Financial corruption in politics is a significant challenge today. Historically, intertwining money and power has often led to ethical breaches and undermined democratic principles and public trust. Today, financial corruption persists in various forms, from campaign finance loopholes over revolving doors between government and industry to offshore tax havens that obscure beneficiaries of political transactions. Financial corruption erodes the foundations of democracy. Power of money equals powerlessness of citizens. Trust in democratic institutions diminishes as citizens perceive their representatives as beholden to special interests rather than the common good. Moreover, corruption fosters a culture of impunity, undermining the rule of law and breeding cynicism among the populace.
Current financial corruption signals that the old democratic system of partitioning representation is no longer working. However, is not a cause but an effect.
As long as people stood united in groups behind parties and politicians, they gave them very clear mandates. As this is no longer the case, parties and politicians have less information about what their voters want and more discretionary freedom, and that opens a much greater door for lobbyists.
Using Civil democracy gives responsibility to citizens and civil society organizations. As we know, people can be corrupted, too. But in giving ongoing responsibility to them, Civil democracy incentivizes to train their future orientation, and that decreases their corruptability. And as for the new representative actors, civil society organizations and individual open actors, three things can be said. First, that are fallible humans, as well, so misconduct cannot be excluded. But second, to bribe them will be not that efficient as bribing politicians today because none of them will have the discretionary power that parties and politicians currently hold. And third, as Civil democracy unfolds, we will have codes of conduct with regards to accepting financial support and ways to easily inform voters which open actors agreed to these codes of conduct, and sanctions if they are violated. Criminal behavior from time to time is a perennial phenomenon, but these institutional precautions shall mostly diminish the current incidence of financial corruption.
Help addressing foundations
Are you used in addressing foundations? Are you yourself working for a foundation, or in contact with one? There are many wealthy individuals who have set up foundations working for the aims Civil democracy is able to address. So far, our approach is always too large to fit in existing funding schemes. But you may be able to change that? Write me directly under hanno.scholtz@civil-democracy.org, we are happy to hear from you!
Two Steps to Modernity: What Crises, Terror, and Other Parallels Tell for Understanding the 20th and Shaping the 21st Century
In the 2020s and the 1940s, two global crises see their climax and solution. This conclusion results from analysing a current dejàvu: Terror started a war in 2001 as it did in 1914. Likewise are economic crises, globalizations and democratizations, increasing inequalities and shifts in the global resource distribution recent phenomena with parallels a century ago. This book shows: this is no coincidence. It is a key for understanding world history from the 19th to the 21st century, and shaping it to the better.
Between 2025 and 2035, institutional innovations bring a climax of crises as long as innovations in organizations are not yet matched on the macro level, and their solution when they finally do. In the current second transition of modernity, modern interaction principles have been introduced within organizations since 1968, but the general acceptance of individualized responsible linkages in democracy and career development as base for regained stability and prosperity still stands out.
This book presents the analytical base of why Civil democracy is needed, in a broader picture that gives overviews over important strands of sociology unified in one single argument.
