ICELANDIC CROWD-SOURCED CONSTITUTION AND SOCIAL MANAGEMENT: PRACTICE AND THEORY IN CITIZENS DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION

Abstract

The Icelandic government recently, between 2009 and 2013, led the process of creating the first crowd-sourced constitution of the world. Immersed in a context of the global monetary crisis generated by the collapse of America's major financial institutions in 2008, known to the Icelanders as 'The Crash', a bill was submitted to the parliament requiring an advisory Constitutional Assembly to be instated. To ensure participation, the assembly used social media networks to conduct discussions between the people of Iceland and the Council. Although the process was not ratified like the new constitution of Iceland, it served as a model to spread throughout the world. Considering this context, the formulation of a crowd sourced constitution in Iceland will be studied on the perspective of Social Management. The analysis of this process will enable Social Management to be presented as an alternative capable of ensuring participation and emancipation worldwide. Social Management is an original Brazilian concept still under construction that, among other aspirations, aims to broaden the participation and popular engagement in the decisions that influence their lives. Studies on social management in Brazil have been expanding since 1990. This field of knowledge envisages building a new public sphere that aims to bring people and politics together in a way that they can debate and generate collective decisions about the needs and future of the community.