Renewing Democracy through Associations

Associative democracy is a normative political theory. Its core propositions are as follows: 1.That as many social activities as possible should be devolved to self-governing voluntary associations. 2.That by doing so the complexity of the state will be reduced and the classical mechanisms of democratic representative government will be able to work better. 3.That self-governing voluntary associations should, wherever possible, replace forms of hierarchical corporate power. This would give the affected interests voice and thus promote government by consent throughout society and not merely formally in the state. 4.That for many essential public functions, such as health provision, education and welfare, voluntary associations should provide the service and receive public funds for doing so.