IMG#14

26 Associative Principles and Democratic Reform

democratic naturę of the ‘primary association’, the state a : ciationalism tums this relationship on its head. It treats jll goveming voluntary bodies not as secondary associations, §    ^a0<

the primary means of both democratic govemance and organik social life. A self-governing civil society thus becomes the pri^J _sir feature of society. The State becomes a secondary, but vitall I dis necessary, public power that ensures peace between associations I ^bc and protects the rights of individuals. It also provides the mecha.    hc

nisms of public finance whereby those forms of provision that are    ®

regarded as necessary and available as of right to all members of I °* society are administered through voluntary associations that those j ^u* members elect to join in order to receive such services. ',91    ⁰¹

Undoubtedly many readers will be sceptical that this can be done. Thus I have tried to spell out these arrangements in the ^tl greatest possible detail. How associations can be madę answer- £ able to their members and those members’ freedoms of choice preserved is considered in Chapter 3. How the economy couldbe ^ govemed by cooperative and coordinative relationships betweea | enterprises, and how those enterprises could be madę accountable _n to a greater rangę of stakeholders than just shareholders, will || be considered in Chapter 5. How welfare could be organized I ^ on associationalist lines is considered in Chapters 6 and 1.1 The principle of govemance through voluntary associations has p been asserted here. The fuli organizational complexities and the tl problems of so doing and how they might be overcome, are de- i veloped as the book unfolds.    -m F

I ¹

The pluralization and federalization of the State

Associationalism challenges both the centralization of the State ¹ and its claim to ‘sovereignty’. It proposes that authority be as far f as possible divided into distinct domains, whether territorial of ^ functional, and that authority should be as localized and smali* f _e scalę as possible. Associationalism argues that there are fund* p mental geographical and social divisions that must be respected¹¹¹ ^ the organization of government. If they are not, then not only^lS liberty put at risk by excessive centralization, but those    ti

springs of association and cooperation that make a society truły s, efficient are also threatened. Harold Laski argued that the art \ a good govemment is to identify, to give appropriate powers ^