Democratic republicanism and the crisis

Democratic republicanism. Obama has got it. Political reform here needs it. And Stuart White may have evangelised for it once or twice here on Next Left, as well as producing a book on the subject.

But what is it all about? Tom Griffin has a very useful blog reader round-up, reflecting that this has also been a central theme for Demos, OurKingdom, the Convention on Modern Liberty and others.

Tom writes:

The current fiasco over expenses at Westminster has created a major opportunity for political reform in Britain. You might not know it from the media's focus on celebrity populism, but there has actually been some useful thinking on the left over the past year which addresses the causes of the crisis quite precisely.

David Marquand's book Britain Since 1918 has started a conversation about democratic republicanism as a British political tradition, perhaps the only tradition that addresses the relationship between parliament and people in a way that is adequate to the current situation.

He is also inviting further recommendations, which would be welcome here too.