Re: <nettime> The Rise of dot-communism (2x)

[Simon Biggs <simon@babar.demon.co.uk>]

>I understood that there was an issue with the president not being elected by
>the people, but rather by some other governing branch (sorry if I sound
>ignorant - don't worry it won't stop me  ;-)  and that there were people who
>wanted to wait for a new referendum.
-----

There are good arguments for both directly elected and non-elected
appointed heads of state. It depends on what you want your head of state
to do. If you require them to lead or participate in the executive then
they must be directly elected. If you only require them to be a figure
head and an emergency back up system then the democratic process isn't
really necessary. In fact, in this scenario, a directly elected head of
state would be problematic as they would potentially be able to exercise
greater power than they are constitutionally allowed by invoking their
popular mandate. An appointed head of state is thus a better option in
this situation, as in Germany, where the executive lies with parliament;
not like France - where it is split - or the USA, where it lies firmly in
the hands of the head of state. All of these approaches have problems of
course. 

As for finding it hard to get good help...people usually get the leaders
they deserve. 

As for Oz, I suspect that the arguments there, like anywhere, were
primarily emotional. I doubt that the right choice has been made, no
matter how democratic its process. 



Simon Biggs
London GB

simon@babar.demon.co.uk
http://www.easynet.co.uk/simonbiggs/

Professor of Research (Fine Art)
Art and Design Research Centre
School of Cultural Studies
Sheffield Hallam University
Sheffield, UK
http://www.shu.ac.uk/


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