What to do about short-termist politics?
If we are to think about 2050 and beyond we need to do something about the short termism that holds politicians back from making visionary decisions.
Victor Anderson of the Guardian Professional Network has written a number of articles about this and puts forward the view that: “[The] ‘Good transition’ to a green economy will require changes to the current short-term nature of the political system”
First published on Wednesday 2 March 2011, for the Guardian
He has written that:
“The problems of the market are often reflected in problems in political systems. The short-termism of the way markets often function, creating instability for business and for whole national economies … can unfortunately be amplified by the short-termism of democratic political systems.”
And looks at House of Lords reform and legislation that could play a part in embedding a more sensible long-term approach to decision making, which would go some way to looking out for the interests of future generations.
“An option that would put sustainability on to the constitutional reform agenda, would be to add scrutiny from the perspective of future generations to the remit of a reformed House of Lords. All the debate has focused on is its composition and how it gets elected (or not elected). No one appears to have been asking the equally important question of what it is there for.”
The remit of the House of Lords, as part of the reform agenda currently being discussed in Parliament, could be extended to incorporate intergenerational equity in the UK democratic processes.
He continues:
“The Lords undoubtedly already have a sense of the long-term, but in their case it tends to be stretching backwards in time. A reformed Upper House could take a long-term view into the future.”
Read the full article “Addressing short-termism in government and politics”
