6.2. Legislative Apparatus
Ideas
- The International Representative Council represents states and balances the demographic variable in international decisions.
- It is the forum for international debate between member states.
- It participates in voting on revisions to the Universal Constitution.
- It proposes and votes on International Resolutions.
International Representative Council
All member states of the Software Democracy send four representatives to the International Representative Council.
These members are chosen from the outgoing representatives of the National Representative Council and serve a four-year term; one representative is renewed each year.
The International Representative Council represents the interests of states in international institutions and helps to balance the demographic variable in international voting, preventing the most populous countries from having too much influence on decisions. As a reminder: all national citizens automatically become international citizens.
The functions of the International Representative Council are as follows:
- It participates in voting on proposals to revise the Universal Constitution.
- In the context of improving cooperation between member states, it proposes and votes on Resolutions with international scope.
Universal Constitution Revision Process
The Universal Constitution is the reference text for the Software Democracy. It carries the values that member countries apply at the national level and must reflect a genuine international consensus.
The revision process for the Constitution follows the overall voting process described previously, with a few variations:
- Origin of proposals
- 10% of representatives can propose an amendment to the Universal Constitution.
- 0.1% of citizens can propose an amendment to the Universal Constitution. They do this through a public platform where they can propose their amendment and where the proposal can be supported by citizens who wish to do so.
- Voting on proposals
- The vote requires a majority of citizens and a majority of representatives. This majority, set in the Constitution, could be greater than 50%.
International Resolutions
The International Representative Council is a forum for exchange and debate that allows member states to resolve their conflicts and improve their cooperation.
These discussions can lead to the voting of an International Resolution. These Resolutions are not binding on member states but display the official position of the Software Democracy.
They can be submitted to the Council for voting on the proposal of 10% of the representatives. They can also be submitted to a citizen vote to strengthen the legitimacy of the Resolution; it would then become difficult for a member state to openly oppose it.