Promoting inclusive decision-making on all matters of controversy and/or complexity. Instead of binary votes which can be so crude, divisive and inaccurate, we advocate preferential points voting: the Modified Borda Count, MBC, a most accurate measure of collective opinion.
Mission and Purpose
To promote inclusive politics.
History
The de Borda Institute was established in 1997, but by that time, we had been advocating the three Borda methodologies since 1986.
The Modified Borda Count, MBC, for decision-making;
The Quota Borda System, QBS, for elections; and
The matrix vote for governance.
Specializations and activities
Voting systems in both decision-making and elections.
Major projects and events
1986 in Belfast: a People's Convention brought together both unionists and republicans, yet still 8 years before the cease-fire. First use of the MBC and matrix vote.
1990 in Moscow: published an article on consensus in Novy Mir.
1990 in Tbilisi, before the war in Abhazia: gave a press conference (in Russian) on the need for power-sharing.
1990 in Yugoslavia, before the collapse: published a newspaper article on consensus politics.
1991 in Belfast: held another consensus experiment, this time with electronic voting; we also had a guest from Sarajevo, and six months before the war, we warned of the dangers of holding a two-option plebisicte in Bosnia.
1998 in Belfast: designed a computer program such that any user may analyse any voters' profile according to the rules of an MBC (plus 6 other v oting methodologies).
2003 in East Africa: warned of the dangers, balkanisation, of using a two-option plebiscite in South Sudan.
2004 in Belfast: tried to persuade Belfast City Council to become the world's first democratically elected chamber to take decisions by electronic preference voting.
2006 in Belfast: the world's first use of the Quota Borda System.
2012 in London: Defining Democracy book launch of the House of Lords.
2012 in Dublin: Defining Democracy also launched in Áras an Uachtaráin, the official residence of the Irish President.
2016 in Dublin: launched From Majority Rule to Inclusive Politics, just three days before the general election, and a very hung parliament. Therefore, with The Irish Times , Dublin City University and CiviQ, organised a public meeting on the matrix vote: 'Let the Parliament elect a Government'. Brilliant: www.deborda.org
2016 in Belfast: issued a press release to warn that any binary vote on Brexit would be divisive and horrible; more than that, that the outcome would be negative.
2017-18. Travelled, mainly overland, from Belfast to Beijing and beyond, before coming back on the Trans Siberian railway. Gave a TEDx talk in Vienna,
https://www.tedxvienna.at/watch/ontheedge/
and gave presentations in universities and so on in nearly every country visited, including Iran and China.
2018 With CiviQ, developed an App, Decision-maker.
Funding
Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (initial grant plus a research grant) and
Community Relations Council (Northern Ireland)
Publications
Majority Voting as a Catalyst of Populism (Springer, 2019),
From Majority Rule to Inclusive Politics (Springer, 2016),
Defining Democracy (Springer, 2012),
Designing an All-Inclusive Democracy (Springer, 2007),
more on http://www.deborda.org/publications/
Secondary Sources External Links
Society for Social Choice and Welfare, Caen
Conflict Research Society, London
New Economics Foundation, London
Green European Foundation, Brussels
Notes
The de Borda Institute has also done a considerable amount of work in East and Southern Africa. Apart from Russian, the director also speaks some Swahili and Serbo-Croat, and is now learning Chinese。
