The International Day of Democracy provides “an opportunity to review the state of democracy in the world”. So says the UN on its international Day of Democracy webpage. How are we all doing then?

If we have read a newspaper recently, or viewed the latest news channels… then not so well. But maybe hope is closer than we think? Read our democracy day blog, and find out why we need to exercise all our democratic muscles, and not just put an X on a ballot form every 5 years.

Where have we gone wrong?

As an ideal, there is a palpable sense that ‘democracy’ (or as it’s is often simply defined ‘the rule by the people’) has never been under such threat. Of course, it has gone wrong before… whilst very few of us are old enough to remember the great world wars of the 20th Century, their legacy is still with us. 

It haunts the global competition for power between remote and unreachable heads of state. It lurks in countless local conflicts; in Ukraine, Gaza, Yemen, Kashmir, Sudan… and too many other places. In arms races, profiteering and welfare cuts. In fake news and arguments on digital platforms run by unaccountable billionaires. 

It rears a particularly ugly head within our own very current UK nationalistic politics. With the othering of the weak and the outsider, in jingoistic flag waving, and in nostalgia for a flawed and partial vision of ‘our’ Britishness, many thought (and prayed) had gone out with empire and colonialism. In all these divisions we hear the echoes of past xenophobia, that could lead us towards a new, 21st century sort of fascism?

So where do we go now? Making any sensible statement about the value of democracy on International Day of Democracy 2025 feels almost too immense. Too big to chew. Maybe we instead need to zero down, to the grassroots. Into actual communities, and peer at some more fertile places, where everyday people lead their lives. 

We believe we get a better perspective of what democracy means by looking at the local, rather than the global. That’s what we try to do at Shared Future. Here is our positive take on democracy.

Democracy lives in community with others

One of the participants in the recent Cumbria Citizens’ Assembly (that we have been facilitating) had this to say about their experience of a more local sort of citizen democracy:

“A cross-section of society from all walks of life can listen, share experience and, together, solve problems in a common sense, practical way that can be difficult for politicians to do alone.”

Within that simple statement lies solutions, and a recognition that democracy is more than an X on a ballot form. That it is not sufficient to leave it to party politicians to solve our problems. That democracy has to be a continual process of listening, learning and sharing. It’s a culture. But they aren’t finished yet. They go on to say:

“At a time when the future feels so uncertain it is especially important to include children and young people in respectful decision-making processes on issues that will affect the rest of their lives.”

How true is this powerful statement of inclusion. We are all on a journey towards citizenship, and citizenship lies at the root of democratic practice. The ‘demos’ itself is the people. And those people need to start early, and practice democracy. 

Democracy is like a muscle. Use it or lose it.

If we don’t learn to use our democratic muscle, practise it in our daily lives and pass it on to the next generation, it just weakens and maybe dies. Sure, remember past wars against fascism.

But remember more what our predecessors fought it for… a democracy where every voice matters and everyone is equal.

So, was our Cumbria Assembly participant done yet? Not quite… the final bit of their quote, one that we requested to mark democracy day, really drives it home:

“I’d love to see a permanent citizens’ assembly to democratise decision-making and act as an antidote to the polarisation we’re seeing in politics today.”

Democracy is so often seen as what, in reality, is only type of democracy. A representative democracy, in which we vote every few years and then watch from the sidelines, fairly hopelessly most of the time, as those who won mess it up (or not). But isn’t it that winner and loser mentality that is part of the problem? 

In diversity is strength

We need to flex all our democratic muscles, not one. The muscles of participatory democracy, where hundreds and thousands work ‘in community’ with others towards common solutions. Or direct democracy, where peaceful protest and street demonstrations converge with our right to free speech and through which we show we hold our leaders to account. And, or course, deliberative democracy, where we are thoughtful, we converse and listen to others, and respectfully and peaceably learn what it means to work towards solutions that don’t exclude or create animosity. Permanent citizen assemblies are our goal too. 

So, that will be our Shared Future ongoing mission… to join in with others at a sort of ‘democracy gym’.

Where we can exercise all our democratic capacities, not just some. Where democracy is more than just signing up with an anonymous ‘X’ in a box.

Where democracy may, at the outset, like just about anything new, be a bit terrifying. But if we stick at it, also ends up feeling a little bit magnificent.