8 INTERVIEW
frustrations, on the part of very large sectors of the population, were effectively captured by a particular elite that wishes to use those dissatisfactions for its own powergrabbing ends.
E2C: Do you think this decision represents the democratic expression of the will of the British people?
NH: I’ m not sure how we could possibly measure what is the legitimate expression of people’ s will. One of the more interesting ideas that I’ ve come across would be a rotating system of governance, whereby an individual is picked at random from the population. When your number comes up, as in the lottery, you serve out a term of governance. At this point, that seems slightly more appealing than this very unequal, imbalanced, and money-driven but pseudo-legitimate one-person-one-vote system that we have now. Claims of liberal democracy to be the highest form of human self-organization are preposterous, particularly in the way it’ s been pursued in places like the US and the UK. I look at it as clearly superior, in consequentialist terms, to fascism for example— but far from the Utopia that it’ s claimed itself to be.
E2C: What consequences do you think Brexit will have for the UK’ s development agenda?
NH: There’ s legitimate political resistance taking place within and beyond the establishment, and there are very real questions about how‘ sensible’ or‘ legitimate’ this particular decision was; I still don’ t know whether Brexit will really happen. If it does, what I understand is that it could have a very negative impact on British higher education: people being denied the ability to partner, scholars being prevented from coming, British scholars being prevented from going. With regard to the development agenda, it would further entrench the conservative governance, and legitimate a small-island nationalism. But, DFID is already being savaged and so is higher education. The first
Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?
Leave 52 %
voter turnout 71,8 %
Stay 48 %
Switzerland
Date: 28 / 02 / 2016 Ref: Swiss referendums
New Zealand
Date: 03-24 / 03 / 2016 Ref: Flag referendum Turnout: 67.78 % Outcome: 56.73 % old flag
43.27 % new flag
Bolivia Senegal
Exchange to change January 2017
Date: 21 / 02 / 2016 Ref: constitutional referendum Turnout: 84.45 % Outcome: 48.71 % for 51.29 % against
Date: 20 / 03 / 2016 Ref: constitutional referendum Turnout: 38.59 % Outcome: 62.64 % for
37.36 % against