Emergent Democracy for Decision-making

Since Blog Cooperatives have no defined structure or hierarchy, no 'management' or board of directors, there needs to be a well-defined process for making business decisions. And since every member has an equal voice, some type of voting system immediately comes to mind. I think that Blog Cooperatives should embrace the principles of Emergent Democracy for business decision-making and governance. (Click here to read the Emergent Democracy paper, mostly by Joi Ito)

As opposed to representative forms of democracy, in which members elect a 'representative' to vote on their behalf, members can vote directly on all of the issues (direct democracy). Web tools and technologies are making this approach a feasible alternative for business and political decision-making. Of course, in business, as well as government, some members may not be knowledgable in all aspects of every business decision. For example, a Customer Service expert may not have enough knowledge to make an informed decision (or vote) on a complex Engineering issue. In such an example, the case may be than only a few Engineering experts (a minority) fully understand the decision at hand. So if all members have an equal vote, and the majority of members don't understand the issue, there is a strong likelihood that the organization as a whole may make an uninformed decision (based on a majority vote, for example). This doesn't seem to be the most effective way to make decisions, does it? It is important, therefore, that any type of voting system take into such differences in expertise, while maintaining each member's equal voice and equal vote. One approach, that may be able to achieve this, is a related form of emergent democracy: Liquid Democracy.

I marvel at the prospect of the blog cooperatives example bringing some fresh wind into our archaic system of representative government. We do need some change in that area.

About decision making and a voting system, I don't see any problem in coming to a right decision even on very technical subjects. First of all, a voting system should not oblige anyone to vote who does not understand an issue. Secondly, the technical complexity of any issue can be "chewed down" by those who understand it in discussion with their peers and with those of the rest who are interested.

As long as a decision is not taken in too much of a hurry or in secret, those voting on it should have come, through discussion, to a clear understanding of what they are to decide about. As long as anyone who's interested has access to the data and the various arguments, I would think that a decision made by all those interested will be for the better.

Josef