Image: An Ataraxian geological engineer inspects a maintenance tunnel in the Commune of Ataraxia.
The Council of the Ataraxian Confederation (Ataraxian Council) has just announced an amendment to the Ataraxian Constitution after reaching unanimous consensus among the conciliators of the 65 communes. Leaders (cooperative organizers, syndicate councillors, and communal conciliators) must be selected on a basis of ergatocratic, meritocratic, and technocratic principles. The requirements for leadership selection is below:
1. The member must be a participating worker in the group they wish to represent and not currently under rehabilitation for any criminal offences; and
2. The member must be one of the highest performing workers in the group they wish to represent; and
3. The member must be the most qualified in the group they wish to represent in relation to present and future projects; and
4. The member must receive unanimous consent from other alternative candidates; and
5. The member may be involuntarily removed from their position if requirements 1-3 are violated, they fail to perform their duties, or are found guilty of criminal behaviour warranting rehabilitation
This effectively makes the Ataraxian Confederation a technocratic sociocracy. Previously leaders could be selected simply on the sociocratic principle of unanimous consensus, now in addition to requiring unanimous consent they also must be the most productive and qualified. While this policy was seemingly practiced for quite some time, with engineers taking up more than 65% of leadership positions across the Ataraxian Confederation - making it a sort-of de-facto "dictatorship of the engineers", the amendment makes the practice official and mandated.
As a result, 86-year-old Ataraxian Ambassador Marvyn Warrick has resigned from his position after serving for 8 years and has been succeeded by Pete Thompsett, an 82-year-old telecoms engineer who has been involved in upgrading telecommunication infrastructure in Adelia and the Confederation.
Marvyn Warrick wrote:We have debated about introducing a policy such as this for a very long time. We talked with Ataraxian scientists, engineers, and even janitors on this issue. We have come to an unanimous consensus that this policy will promote and safeguard efficient management. "Dictatorship" does not really apply here as every Ataraxian has virtually equal say in decision-making at the highest levels of government. People have and will still be able to request participation in a council they are related to.
Ataraxians are noted for their rejection of contemporary democracy, in that they disapprove of majority rule. When deciding a leader, even with the new amendment, the candidates themselves decide who among them is to be appointed through unanimous consensus. With the new amendment, this means that essentially only people who are part of the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) are able to run as candidates. Furthermore, it is important to note the difference between unanimous consensus and agreement - this has been a cause of confusion in the past. Unlike unanimous agreement, unanimous consensus does not require everyone to agree, only that nobody objects. Decisions are made through discussion rather than voting. Ataraxians say this encourages constructive dialogue and that only parties truly invested in an issue make decisions.