About this project

Competent Democracy is a private work. The concept has been developed over more than ten years, and with this site it is being opened for public review for the first time.

The project is independent. It is not affiliated with, funded by, or endorsed by any organization, company, or government, and it is strictly non-profit. It represents no party or movement; it is a proposal, offered for scrutiny.

This is not an academic work and makes no claim to professional standing in political science, constitutional law, or public administration — it is offered to anyone who has that standing or has an opinion, to be judged on its own terms rather than on its author's.

Nothing here is offered as inevitable or imminent. But several of the mechanisms it describes already operate somewhere — independent costing of party manifestos before elections, independent scorekeeping of government performance, statutory limits on false electoral claims. The purpose of setting the whole out in full, in detail, is to make it arguable.

The proposal exists at full length as a specification. I am in the process of collecting feedback about the concept towards opening a panel for discussion — comments, ideas, critique and suggestions for collaboration are most welcome, through the submission form or by email at competent-democracy at outlook.com.