According to its website, the State Services Commission sent NZ’s Open Government Action Plan to the international Open Government Partnership (OGP) Secretariat on 31 July. The countries involved in the OGP since its inception – from the UK and US to Indonesia and Brazil – have signed up to meaningful and aspirational goals: better oversight, […]
Is the quality of our democracy an election issue?
A well-attended conference in Wellington at the weekend heard and discussed a number of presentations which raised questions about the current quality of our democracy. The conference was hosted by the St Andrews Trust for the Study of Religion and Society and Public Good and the aspirations of many organisations and the approaches they are […]
Tools for exploring democracy at the NetHui conference
The NetHui conference is a national taonga. Run and funded by Internet New Zealand each year it provides a 3 day intensive and open ended debate on issues related to the internet and web technology. The event is accessible and the cost is low and the attendees pretty diverse – ethnicity, age, relationship to technology […]
Speakers announced – Democracy, ethics and the public good
The 2014 Geering Event (Details as at 24 July 2014) St Andrews on the Terrace Wellington Friday evening 1 August – 7.00 – 9.00 public seminar Friday evening’s speakers Rev. Dr Jim Cunningham is the interim Minister at St Andrews and the chair of the St Andrews Trust for the Study of Religion and Society. […]
Poor quality democracy?
Back in March a number of people from more than about a dozen organisations got together to discuss the quality of New Zealand’s democracy at an informal hui in Wellington. I was there. We discussed the good, the bad and what needs to happen for people to feel more included and less marginal to the […]
Media Release: Opening the debate on the quality of our democracy
People in Wellington and beyond can help to kick-start a much-needed critical examination of our democracy on August 1 and 2. Public Good and the St Andrews Trust for the Study of Religion and Society (SATRS) are hosting Democracy, Ethics and the Public Good which will open the debate and seed ideas about future approaches […]
Conference registration launched
Democracy, ethics and the public good. kickstarting a serious conversation about the quality of our democracy In recent years we have seen a deterioration in the quality of some aspects of our democracy. On one hand we can celebrate MMP and the diverse set of representatives for our communities. The 2013 Transparency International report identified […]
Party Policies and get out the vote campaigns
The purpose of this page is to help ensure: that people get out and vote that they can find the party policies and manifestos easily It contains information for voters and links to party manifesto and policy information Our mini-conference Democracy, Ethics and the Public Good is taking place in the leadup to the election. […]
Book review: Glenn Greenwald No place to hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA and the surveillance state
Tomorrow it’s a year to the day since we learnt about the NSA tracking of Verizon telephone customers and on the 6th June the Prism project appeared in the UK Guardian. Glenn Greenwald’s book was published on May 15 and recounts the events and the follow up as well as comprehensive information about what was […]
The Social Contract
The Social Contract is an old philosophical idea that people consent to be governed.
Effectively this means that people give up some freedoms but benefit from the fairness and order provided by the government. Implicit in the idea is that people have the maximum freedoms consistent with the Social Contract. However there are limits to the powers of government. This is the case especially for democratic governments which are made up of our elected representatives who make decisions on our behalf.
Review a Pro Public Good Book, Paper or film…
Public Good has started a portfolio of book reviews Read it HERE But we are always looking for more – here are some we have thought would be great to review on the site: These books examine the ideas behind neo-liberal revolution and begin to define a public good future Zombie Economics: How Dead Ideas […]
Valuing the Commons – What we don’t own but need
Often it’s hard to acknowledge the value of the things that we do not pay for directly like clean air, water,public spaces and public assets like libraries and recreation opportunities. The Idea of the Commons… This comes historically comes from small farmers sharing grazing land with rules to ensure it is not over-exploited. Valuing the […]
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