Willie Sullivan, senior director, ERS Scotland and Campaigns, writes about the Democracy 21 conference taking place in Glasgow next weekend

MODERN democracy has lasted for little more than a moment in the history of humans. As a system its resilience has been remarkable. The challenges of fascism and Stalinism were seen off in the last century.

But we would be complacent to the point of dumb stupidity to think that we can all standby and the thing will take care of itself.

Scotland is a great teacher about modern politics.

The politics is more open and inclusive than it is in Westminster. But we also know that being better at democracy than Westminster is not getting over a particularly high bar.

We have a wonderful history of thinking and talking about democracy.

In his famous address Jimmy Reid stated: “Let me right at the outset define what I mean by alienation. It is the cry of men and woman who feel themselves the victims of blind economic forces beyond their control.

“It’s the frustration of ordinary people excluded from the processes of decision-making. The feeling of despair and hopelessness that pervades people who feel with justification that they have no real say in shaping or determining their own destinies.”

And because what Reid identified then is still true, Scotland does not escape the inequality, confusion and precariousness that is fuelling bad politics across the globe and much of which we are going to discuss at the Democracy 21 conference the Electoral Reform Society is hosting in Glasgow on Saturday 23 June.

This makes it clear to us that democracy is not only about elections: again, in Scotland we see a relatively vibrant political and activist culture, often challenging and at times belligerent in the face of concentrations of power. Still, we think we can do better. Much better.

Democracy is not only about elections but it is mostly about power. Jane McAlevey, the American trade union organiser, defines power as being “the ability to stop bad things happening to you and your community and the ability to make good things happen”.

Scotland should aspire to all of our communities having that that sort of power. This might seem obvious – but it is not a conclusion we came to quickly.

In 2012, a coalition of campaigners began a process of trying to work out what would make Scotland’s democracy better.

We had a good starting point with the thinking of the like of Jimmy Reid and Scotland’s Claim of Rights, which states not that our parliament, or any other institution or person is sovereign, but that all the Scottish people have the right to the type of government we agree upon.

We wanted to discuss and then begin to describe how this beautiful idea could be made a reality.

After 18 months of public meetings, round tables and a citizen’s assembly we concluded with a lengthy report and recommendations called Democracy Max.

The main idea was that democracy should work best locally – in the places we live and work, send our kids to school, dance with our friends, use the transport systems and create homes.

The fact it doesn’t is a demonstration that centralisation and “top down” might work well for those on the top, but it seems to pull power away from most people and largely detracts from their ability to make good things happen for them and /or stop bad things.

Since then we have worked hard to learn from many communities across Scotland and experimented with different ways of helping people find that power.

Around 2015 this became a campaign to try and change the institutions and processes of government because the present set up does much to hinder and not enough to help.

The campaign was named after what we saw the best of those local community activists doing: community land buyouts in the Highlands and Islands, student community housing coops in Edinburgh, Galgael in Govan, the Fire Station Creative in Dunfermline, the Stove Project in Dumfries, Leith Decides in Edinburgh and many, many more.

That democracy is suffering a range of morbid symptoms is beyond question. We see that in everything from the rise of fake news to alleged Russian collusion in our elections, from unscrupulous data harvesting to out-of-control campaign spending and rule-dodging.

And power is centralised not only in Westminster but, for Scots – in Edinburgh and more importantly in faceless institutions and in a manager/executive class.

Levels of local representation in Scotland are the lowest in Europe – leaving many feeling powerless.

Back in 2016, research for Electoral Reform Society Scotland revealed 76% of Scots felt they had no or very little influence on council spending or services. This shocking reflection of disempowerment was just another reason for campaigners to launch the “Our Democracy” – Act as if You Own The Place the campaign.

We need to understand the causes and the cures.

Democracy develops and is remade in different places for different times. That the government is consulting on a bill for Scottish local governance is a source of optimism, while people are challenging harmful power structures across the board: from the #MeToo movement to campaigns on land reform and reformation of the British state.

That we have hundreds of people willing to try to understand these problems and to work at remaking our democracy to be the best version yet is another sign that we can make it through the democratic winter – a democratic spring (unlike the other Spring) might start first in Scotland.

Tickets for the conference can be bought from Eventbrite here