George Monbiot, in a rare and welcome moment of lucidity, points out the problems with a small, specialised clique dictating the Iraqi constitution .

[Iraq] should draw on the experiences of Nicaragua in 1986, where 100,000 people took part in townhall meetings reviewing the draft constitution, and of South Africa, where the public made 2 million submissions to the drafting process. In both cases, the sense of public ownership this fostered accelerated the process of reconciliation.
More reading: Tags
Cam Riley: South Sea Republic. Freedom, liberty, equity and an Australian Republic.

Comments
  • cam . # .
    It looks like Iraq\'s "bearded men": .... are going to stuff it up like ours did. There is probably a good rule there, no bearded or portly males should be a majority in a constitutional convention as history shows inferior outcomes result.

    I think the Australian Republican referendum showed the same, people wanted to be involved and support shot up to 70%, as soon as it got fenced off and the professional politicians took over the process, then support dropped.

    cam