Democracy: know your limits

This week, our Student Voice Alkhemist, Andrew Bowie , takes the newsletter reigns. Ever wondered if we might be overdoing it with elections? Or if there's a more streamlined, yet equally democratic, approach? Read on

Democracy is cool and we love it

You’re a democrat – you're someone who believes that democracy is a great thing, and an essential tool in fair, open, and transparent representative systems.?

You know why we have it in our Organisations Representing Students (ORS) – it gives every single student at your institution a voice in deciding who is going to represent them and their views.

You know what would happen if we didn’t have it at every single level of representation in our democratic systems – a level of chaos that would make Takeshi’s Castle look civil and well organised by comparison.

…Or would it?

Uh oh.? Someone has suggested that we do something in a less democratic way than before!? This is a nightmare!? Inconceivable!?

…but why??

A lot of us have done it, and I am no exception.? We’re reviewing our representative systems, and trying to figure out how we can get even better engagement with them.? We look at incentives: enticing offers to get those candidates in the door (and then to keep them in the door after the fact.)? We look at promotions, and communications: We need to sell this experience as worth the personal investment, from election to departure, and we need to do that as clearly and concisely as possible.? We look at barriers, and the accessibility of the system: we want our elections and roles to be something that anyone can put themselves forward for, without prejudice or obstruction.

Then someone utters something.? Something about “not electing” someone, or some roles.? We should do something else instead, they say.? That’s wild!? Do away with an election??? The very cornerstone of our democracy??? No, I say immediately, that can’t be an option.?

…but actually, it is.? And not only that – it’s a fantastic option.? Maybe even one of the best.?

Let’s have a chat about democracy at Organisations Representing Students, and the age old issue of having too much of a good thing.

Why we need Democracy

We don’t.? Or certainly, not as often as we think we do.? Instead, let’s try asking…

Why we want Democracy

In an ideal world, there would be no such thing as too much democracy.? We would give students a say in as much as we possibly could, to really embed the feeling of being an organisation run by students, for students.? Direct democracy gives them power and control over the organisation that’s specifically been set up to represent their interests and opinions to the institution.? A thoroughly engaged student body could run an ORS almost on their own with enough knowledge and understanding.?

But that’s not how it works.? So instead, we try to give them as much of a say as possible.? It’s not for no reason either, or for the sake of it – there’s lots of understandable reasons to want to embed as much democracy as possible into your structures and decision making processes:

-? ? ? ? Good engagement and turnout during elections fulfils multiple objectives: it gives our officers and elected representatives a stronger mandate, and makes it easier for them to argue that their opinions are representative of the students who elected them.? It also gives our institutions confidence that our officers have a legitimate mandate behind them from the students when they are arguing for them in committees etc.

-? ? ? ? More opportunities to engage means more engaged students.? Asking students to take part in decision making can give them a greater feeling of involvement and control when it comes to the ORS, and helps them to understand how they can make meaningful change both within the ORS and the wider institution.

-? ? ? ? It’s probably what your officers want: they were democratically elected, so the system clearly works, and it feels like a really fair way to decide who should hold these positions.?

-? ? ? ? It’s probably what your staff want:? Again, it feels fair, it’s an impartial system that avoids any accusations of “picking favourites” in a recruitment-style process, and it’s often a high point in the year for staff in organisations with a healthy working culture (although I stress it is often a retrospective pleasure!)

-? ? ? ? It just feels right:? where there’s representation to be done, it just makes sense that the people who are being represented get to pick who does that role.? That’s pretty much the basis of democracy as a whole.?

There’s nothing illogical there, nothing (I hope) that you would read and be confused about the rationale.? It’s really clear why it’s compelling to introduce democratic processes wherever they logically fit in our structures.?

So let’s ask the question in a slightly different way again.? Instead of asking “where can we introduce more democracy?”, let’s instead ask “where can we remove unnecessary democracy?”. ? If your instinct was to flinch at the sentiment, then I really encourage you to read on and see what you think – maybe I can change your mind?? If I can – great!? If not, why not let me know in a comment??

DEMOcracy?? Or BUREAUcracy ?

Here’s the catch – I don’t think any of my ideas make things less democratic.? What I actually think we’re doing is making things less bureaucratic.

Bureaucracy likes to disguise itself as other things – it is the cuckoo of the world of policy and process.? I don’t like bureaucracy – I doubt many of us do!? It has its necessities, but when it is unnecessary, all it does is slow things down and make them a chore to engage with.? But I do like democracy – love it even.? So what happens when bureaucracy pretends to be democracy?? It does what it always does.? It slows down our processes, it turns students away from engaging with them, frustrates them when they do engage, and can give them a negative impression of our ORS – which hurts our overall engagement.?

Here’s an example of a process that looks democratic.? I’ll then suggest a change that makes it look undemocratic:

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Fableton University has a population of 20,000 students.? Fableton SU is responsible for the annual class rep elections.? Aiming for a ratio of 1 rep to 50 students, they could get a maximum of 400 reps.? To become a class rep at Fableton University, the following process is used:

-? ? ? ? A student wishing to become a class rep must fill out an online nomination form.

-? ? ? ? Once the nomination period concludes, Fableton SU reviews the candidates, ensures all nominations are valid, and begins the process of setting up elections.

-? ? ? ? Every rep now stands in an election.? RON shall be a candidate in all elections, including those which are uncontested.? Where more nominations have been received than there are vacant posts in a cohort, an election takes place between the candidates.

-? ? ? ? Where a contested election occurs, candidates must be given the opportunity to address their class to put forward why they should be chosen as class rep.

-? ? ? ? A secret ballot will then be conducted for all rep positions.?

-? ? ? ? Where RON is successful, or for any positions where there are no candidates, the nomination process will be reopened, and the process repeated.?

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I’ve tried to make that example as typical as possible, so I hope you feel it’s a fair representation of the “average” approach to electing class representatives.? Now, here’s my second draft of the same process:

-? ? ? ? ?A student wishing to become a class rep must fill out an online nomination form.

-? ? ? ? Once the nomination period concludes, Fableton SU reviews the candidates, ensures all nominations are valid, and confirms all nominees as class representatives.?

-? ? ? ? In exceptional circumstances, such as where there is a severe imbalance in the ratio of reps to students in a cohort, the SU will facilitate an election for said class to elect their reps.?

?

Yikes, right?? It looks like I’ve just scooped the democracy out of the process entirely and made it into a “come one, come all” system where anyone who wants to be a class rep can be one.?

I disagree.? I’ve simplified a lot, and we will all have our own unique contexts and factors which might make my second approach less workable than it sounds.? On the whole though, I don’t think the second approach alters the level of democracy involved for a typical SU at all.? Let’s have a look at what’s happening in the sector, and how less is more, or at least the same, in lots of democratic circumstances.

Dude, where’s my democracy?

Unfortunately, I don’t have the silver bullet for our sector’s challenges when it comes to rep recruitment and grassroots student engagement.? What I do see, however, are lots and LOTS of ORS making the process much more difficult and inaccessible than it needs to be, and certainly more than they want it to be!? Class Reps are just one example of the areas where this happens, but it’s often the case that we’ll be involved in electing more reps than for any other positions.?

As I mentioned above, it feels right to elect Class Reps.? It’s a representative role, and people should have the right to decide who represents them.? However, I argue that students also have a responsibility to exercise that right.? My approach looks dodgy: what if lots of people sign up and then just don’t do the role?? What if we get too many in lots of classes?? What’s the point in a rep that isn’t elected??

But then, why are an increasing number of ORSs moving away from elections for class reps?? Here’s what you need to know about how you can remove bureaucracy pretending to be democracy at your institution:

"It’s all about accessibility"

We’re always working as a sector to become as accessible as possible – the more accessible we are, the easier it is for more students to engage with us from more diverse backgrounds.? An election is a massive accessibility barrier to a huge number of students which goes far beyond a simple challenge around individual confidence.? They come with lots of rules, which can be intimidating; it can mean speaking to lots of people that you don’t know to get something that you want; the process may be hard to understand for a number of different factors; and it will often rely on the cooperation of the other students in the class, plus the tutor or lecturer, which we all know is never assured.? Seeing all these barriers in front of them, all caused by an election process, how many students are turning away from us at the first point of contact because the approach isn’t accessible to them?

"Your democracy is undemocratic"

As discussed – not all things which first appear to be democratic actually are.? This goes beyond bureaucracy though.? What I mean is that, sometimes, your “democracy” is actively making your process less democratic.?

This is particularly true of any system where A) you are asking class rep candidates to get a minimum number of endorsements before they can stand in an election, or B) you are asking uncontested candidates to go through the rigmarole of a full electoral process, even if our old friend RON (Re-Open Nominations) is involved.

One of the fundamentals of democracy is participation.? You can’t explicitly agree or disagree with something in a typical election without voting in one direction or another – if you abstain by staying at home or spoiling your ballot, you’re counted as a non-participant, essentially.? If you allow students to prevent the election of a rep by not participating (i.e. if your candidate can’t meet the threshold for endorsement, and thus is not elected even though nobody stood against them) then that is, bluntly, anti-democratic.? Students must actively decide that they don’t want a certain person to be rep, and somebody must stand against them to offer the class that choice.? It’s very easy to not participate in democracy, even as a student, but it’s not good practice to count abstention as a vote against.? Likewise, if nobody contests a candidate, then nobody else wanted to be or felt able to be a rep other than the individual putting themselves forward.? Your local authority wouldn’t put that to a vote if it was a councillor – they’d just fill the seat and move on.?

"The Student Representation Journey"

We all know that a strong democratic structure typically looks like a pyramid in our organisations – fewer sabbs at the top with the most “power”, with the number of positions increasing as you go down the pyramid to your grassroots student population.? We also know that a healthy pyramid will help people to climb it, and produce opportunities for those students who want to get more involved to remain involved as they climb.?

For many, being a Class Rep will be their first step on this journey – one which in ideal circumstances will conclude with them serving as a sabbatical officer after several years of experience within the democratic structures.? How big a barrier do you want there to be between a grassroots student, and them beginning their journey with us?? I’d certainly argue that I want no barriers in this process, and I want it to be as easy as possible for students to get involved with us.? Those who are more engaged will self-select themselves to remain involved in the system and will strive to move up the pyramid of their own initiative, or with some gentle encouragement if you have “talent spotted” them.? Again, how many potentially excellent reps have we lost because they were faced with an election, or who were waiting for their tutor to organise an election that never arrived?? That could even be their first impression of our organisation, and it would be a particularly negative one at that.

The numbers game

Whilst I’m personally not a fan of rep numbers or proportions as KPIs (unless your students think that that’s an important measure of success for your organisation), I know that many in the sector rely on these to demonstrate their success to their partner institutions.? If successful, removing rep elections can make these numbers much larger, and your institution may take issue with the tactic of not electing them (although now you can explain to them why that’s not as democratic as it appears!).?

This approach opens up a new field of statistics for us however, and it allows us to measure how thoroughly the most engaged students choose to engage with us.? Without the barrier of an election, pretty much anyone who wants to be a rep can be one.? Now we can examine things like:

-? ? ? ? What other elements of our system need to be improved to retain rep engagement

-? ? ? ? How many reps are choosing to remain as reps for multiple years

-? ? ? ? How many reps are using the Class Rep role as a launch platform to progress up the pyramid

-? ? ? ? How many students are interested in being a part of the democratic structures at all

So we may lose the “value” of the raw number of reps, or the proportion of cohorts who are represented, but I think we gain a lot more over and above that.?

Who cares?

That point about numbers, of course, is only really relevant if people care about your processes.?

This isn’t meant to sound as droll as it will – but, genuinely, who actually cares if your reps are elected?? The class doesn’t, or you’d have no issues getting them to engage across the board in rep elections.? The academics don’t, or you wouldn’t need to chase and chase and chase them to just get the election out of the way.? The institution doesn’t, or they’d be giving you much more support to get all of your elections done, just like they do for your main elections (hopefully…).?

You might worry that, without an election, you are removing a layer of transparency from the process.? This might feel even more the case if you were to consider recruitment for any representative positions.? Fun Boy Three said it best in this case though: “it ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it - that’s what gets results”.? Democracy is transparent, but it’s not exclusive to it - anything can be a transparent process if done correctly, sharing all the most important information about the process and ensuring openness and honesty will always result in processes being more transparent.??

If you were to decide to scrap rep elections, as many organisations have already done without a backlash from their student body, or institution, then you’ll probably find yourself in the exact same situation. ? You’ve also freed up officer and staff hours to focus on other elements of the system which really matter, like your training, and your meetings, and just generally keeping these keen reps engaged across the academic year.?

All in all - none of this has actually been about removing democracy, per se, but rather about making it much more efficient, accessible, and inclusive.??

So what now?

Well, why not give it a try?? Why not see what happens when you move away from democracy and from electing your reps?? Try it with a small group first if you prefer, compare it to previous years and other cohorts who are electing and see what happens – the results might just surprise you.?

Alkhemy have been providing support to numerous Organisations Representing Students across the UK and Ireland with challenges just like this one, and helping them to implement new and innovative ways of engaging with grassroots students.? We’d love to have a chat with you about what could work in your context – whether it’s scrapping some elections, invigorating your training, making your council meetings more accessible and more engaged with, and countless other things besides.?

Most of all, we love to engage with partners on the basis that you are the expert in your own context.? We don’t like rep elections, but maybe you do? ? We’re not just bringing our own pre-packaged solutions to the table, we’re co-creating them with you during our time together, and helping you to implement them effectively, not just leaving you to do all the work on your own.?

Come and have a coffee

Like what I’ve said?? Hate it?? Somewhere in between?? Let’s chat about it over a virtual coffee some time!? You can book in a chat with me at a time that suits you using our Calendly link here: https://calendly.com/andrewb16.? I’d be delighted to chat to you about how we can normalise accessible systems, boost engagement, free up staff capacity, and all in the way that suits your unique context