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Is it possible – and useful – to view democratic politics as an analogy between the commercial dichotomy of supply and demand? I think so, even if some people might find this disrespectful comparison irritating. It is also important and stimulating to think about alternatives to the challenges of politics. Let's see why.
Throughout history, the balance has always remained tilted towards the supply side: ideologies, parties, programs and leaderships have been articulated from a vision of the world that interpreted them and competed with others for political hegemony. Visions that also aimed to lead the majorities, to guide them or to redeem them. The politics were prophetic, between Redemptorist and almost messianic callings. The citizens were cities or masses. The various policy options were based on principles, values and ideas that shaped their vision and were realized in a current project that citizens could decide or not.
However, (one-way) offers have been encountering a wall of skepticism, disillusionment and dissatisfaction for several decades, as Peter Mair explains in Governing the Void (2015). In this context, it is becoming increasingly difficult to make and communicate policy based solely on the offer. Does the citizenry need to be led or rather does the world need to be cared for, understood and represented?
Demand-oriented politics, on the other hand, means, firstly, understanding the concerns, needs and desires of society and, secondly, building a project that responds to this social climate and is able to find solutions to real problems. Politics on demand means listening, watching… and reacting. The development of new demoscopic techniques and tools, as well as the ability to micro-segment networked public opinion, allowing us to deliver specific messages to small audiences, facilitate and promote this way of thinking and understanding politics: constant monitoring and appropriate dosage response. A two-way policy.
In addition, demand-driven politics prepares parties and their leadership with a range of attitudes and skills that will make them more suitable for representation. In addition to the listening and segmentation skills mentioned above, we must add a policy proposal capable of responding to the challenges of the square meter of people (their narrowest, real and demanding interests). A renewed ability to respond to new situations and scenarios. And finally, a more permeable and dynamic electoral muscle for the competitive phase of the struggle for political power.
This now requires the ability to sustain tactical adaptation in a scenario of extreme instability and volatility. The political project must constantly adapt to circumstances and the evolution of events: “Events, my dear boy, events,” as Harold Macmillan, former British Prime Minister, once said. And of course there are risks.
It is true that this approach feeds the populism that emerges precisely as a shortcut to challenges. Where tactics devour and cannibalize strategic options and underlying solutions that respond to opportunities for understanding the challenges of the planet and citizens. But there is an increasing need to redesign the political offering that is more connected to the diverse realities of the societies they represent and seek to govern. A politics as a public service that distances itself from or self-regulates ideologies that have been worth dying for for many centuries, regardless of whether they were worth living for.
Does all this mean that the ideology no longer exists? Not at all. Mario Riorda and Marcela Farré argue in a book just ten years old that ideologies continue to serve a “mythical function” and give uniqueness to policy options. It is this identity (whether more or less ideologized) that can avoid the other major risk and tendency of this on-demand policy: the homogenization of supply. That means they all end up looking too similar. A populist trivialization would be another undesirable trend.
The key, as almost always, is finding the right balance. Ideas to change the world, yes; but above all, solutions for everyday life and while we, as Albert Camus said, “practice happiness so that the terrible taste of justice may be sweetened.”
Antoni Gutierrez-Rubi He is a communications consultant.
@antonigr; www.gutierrez-rubi.es
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