At Involve we have taken a few days to think over the US election result. Our Head of Northern Ireland, Rebekah McCabe, posted some thoughts the day after the election, and we want to expand and build on them.
The election result highlights the polarisation and fragmentation in our politics, not just present in the US but around the world.
It also reveals a hard truth. When elections themselves are so adversarial that they drive division, whoever is the winner and whoever the loser, our empathy and connection to one another is the real casualty. This makes democracy feel like an impoverished version of a powerful idea — one that should be about shared power, collaboration, genuine openness, participation and fairness.
This moment calls us to listen, learn, and make sense of what it teaches us about our democracy. What are the weaknesses and flaws of our current systems? How can we move beyond this thin version of democracy, towards a politics that helps all people feel heard, while also centering fairness, justice, care, and ecological survival?
There are many different kinds of action which can help shift our democratic system to where it needs to be. At Involve, we see hope in the transformative potential of deliberative democracy. In our work, we are often in rooms with people who are opposed to each other on a range of important issues, and who view the world from different perspectives. But we know that the process of deliberation - an uninspiring word for a powerful and transformative experience - unlocks our ability to be human together and solve so many problems of our divided society.
We want to share support and solidarity with those over the world working to improve democracy.
This includes our friends and colleagues in the deliberative and participative democracy space, those working for democratic reform, and those fighting for the rights and voices of people who are pushed aside and unheard.