Unlock Democracy

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Unlock Democracy is a UK think tank, based in Islington, in London. The organisation campaigns for a more participatory democracy in the UK, founded upon a written constitution. Unlock Democracy works to promote democratic reform across the political spectrum and is not aligned with any political party. The organisation's activities include producing a range of publications, lobbying politicians and political parties and working on projects to promote greater public involvement in politics, at both a local and a national level.

1 History
2 Campaign Goals
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] History

Unlock Democracy was founded in 2007 when members of Charter 88 (a pressure group advocating constitutional electoral reform) and the New Politics Network (the organisation established after the winding up of the think tank Democratic Left, which was itself the legal successor of the Communist Party of Great Britain) voted to merge the two organisations. The merger was expected to be formally completed in November 2007.^[1]

[edit] Campaign Goals

Unlock Democracy's primary goal is setting in place of a democratic participative process resulting in a written constitution. That constitution should explicilty set out the separation of powers between the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary. It should also explicitly determined the divisions and limitations of powers between central central and local government within the UK. The organisation's stated aims are:

To campaign:

to ensure that the votes of all carry equal weight

for transparency in public decision making

to achieve legislative changes that modernise our governance

to ensure that power is exercised as close to people as is practicable

to empower individuals and their communities to have a greater say over the decisions that affect them

for democratic accountability of all elected representatives, government and public bodies ^[2]

To promote:

a new culture of informed political interest and responsibility, paving the way for increased enthusiastic public participation

a pluralist democracy that is responsive to the problems and aspirations of all people, valuing and accommodating difference and diversity^[3]