climate issues, since we know the technical solutions but we don’t have an efficient Operating System for Spaceship Earth.

Consequences are that:
1. there is no recognized theory/method of democracy design, for it is thought to be impossible,
2. there is no recognized free market in independent professional democracy advice. So states, forming a de facto cartel, are the major actors in democracy promotion. This is inefficient, stifles new ideas, and because of deadly ineptitude, gives the very concept of democracy promotion a bad name.
3. there is no fundamental R&D/training center for democracy design/engineering, no center of excellence, no independent School of democracy; only valiant solitary efforts.
4. people schizophrenically believe that human dignity and democracy are intrinsically valid on some governance levels (nationally) but not internationally/globally.

A closer analysis reveals that in people’s mental landscape, democracy is a Platonic ideal, existing as a perfect concept which we must tend towards. Not only is this untrue, but leads to totalitarianism because in the name of a perfect allegedly democratic future system till the end of Eternity, all crimes can be justified.
The problem of Humanity is suboptimal systems governance: a tragedy of imagination.

Democracy engineering is an application of design science to democratic governance which charts political paths from weaponry to livingry

The general solution: promote a new intellectual infrastructure and the revolutionary idea that democracy engineering is a viable concept (a design science subfield). Continue developing it, its derived concepts and the necessary structures (business and school) to effect a paradigm shift from “magical” to scientific thinking about democracy. Promote a paradigmatic change in political theory and international relations about the feasibility and power of systematically using democratic principles to resolve political problems.

Design science has been mostly technical, yet it is evident that Humanity cannot solve its problems only technically. It is necessary to use design science paradigm for democratic governance. I started doing so in 2002, after years of frustration trying to promote utopian concepts: world citizenship/democracy. The result was a theory/method called Democracy Engineering (rather than architecture or design because it was intended to convey design+implementation).

DE is a (systems approach) theory and a practical method for designing/implementing solutions to political problems based on democratic principles, in an optimized process respecting human nature. It is based on clear assumptions (see below), and is unique in the field in being falsifiable and able to give prescriptive answers. It is internally coherent and produces solutions that enthuse people.

It is a trimtab because it increases syntropy maximally with minimal entropy cost. It can be used for global governance-the operating system of Planet Earth, or political subunits, or intra- or inter-unit issues.

DE is a very fertile theory, as the following concepts derived from it show: Middle East democratic peace process, global social contract, global creation myth, preemptive democracy for Iraq, European constitutional process, European democracy campaign, Parliament of the Balkans etc.

The specifics
promote:
- a mindshift: democracy is not a law of nature or random act of History, it is a human invention (political technology), which can be improved consciously and systematically. It is an Aristotelian “hyper-trimtab”
- a new paradigm for democracy promotion: democratic systems, processes and structures can be created/optimized through conscious design & interdisciplinary knowledge
- a global political architecture based on human dignity
- a new profession of independent consulting democracy engineers
- a free market in democracy consulting & other services (see business plan)
- the creation of the world’s first center of excellence in democracy engineering, an inter-disciplinary post-graduate research & training center: the School of Democracy.

Methodologically, DE uses stretch goals based on the empirical truth that humans change when treated with dignity, when their dignity is designed into the process or the system and is inherent to its foundations and operations. This is not dewy idealism, it is proven by empirical and historical facts.

DE is more scientific than present arbitrary methods that are closer to magical thinking than to science, but it is not always easy or obvious. Its use and implementation of its results need specific skills and knowledge. That is why the School of Democracy is needed to train politicians, high officials and most importantly “democracy engineers” and create a place where top minds improve the theory and its applications, in an open independent setting.

Achievements since 2002
Dozens of articles, media references about DE or derived concepts Dozens of speeches, conferences, personal meetings with ambassadors, elected or high officials, foreign ministries, of Western and Muslim countries
Major intergovernmental organizations informed at the highest levels International organizations or politicians have used DE or DE-derived concepts
Several contracts

A tipping point could be achieved with this prize.

Plan: develop two major instruments
1 DE consulting company (since 2004)
This is crucial because if people pay for DE, the world will pay attention. It is also a way to make it self-sustaining. Clients include members of the European parliament. About ten governments have been approached (eg US, France, Iraq, Iran). It has been helped by a bank.
2 School of Democracy
The School is vital to create more credibility and mindshare, to train elites to change the dominant paradigm, and to train future democracy engineers. The nonprofit was created in 2004 and dozens of politicians, academics etc. are involved in various ways.

How? create and maintain
For the company:
marketing materials, a website, a blog, governance modelization software
For the School of democracy & DE in universities/the policy world
A business plan, An interdisciplinary curriculum, An Ethics code, A curriculum/study plan as requested by professors at 3 universities, including the Director of the Institut d’Etudes Politiques, Strasbourg
Generally, write books:
Democracy Engineering 101
Democracy Engineering: precedents, principles, method and case studies.
Top publishers are interested but will not pay advances

Articles/opeds
in specialist publications eg ETVDES, The New Internationalist, SOLDAT
in major French papers: Le Monde, Le Figaro, Libération

The theory
A priori axioms

1. all humans possess equal dignity
2. the people are sovereign

Postulates

1. There exists a general theory & a method based on the fundamental axioms which can be used to solve political problems.
2. For any given political problem, there exists an optimal solution which can be found/designed by the method in 1.
3. Optimal solutions are processes or institutions/structures (= “frozen” process).
4. An optimal solution is dynamic in time and space, varying according to the content/”boundary conditions” of the system considered
5. The content & boundary conditions vary according to idiosyncratic circumstances (historical, cultural) of the place/polity, its scale and the chronology
6. The stability of the optimum is highest when the parties invent their own solution
7. The degree of stability of the optimum is dependent on the degree of participation of the parties in the process

So an “imperfect” solution arrived at by the parties is better than a solution imposed by outsiders. A democracy engineer does not impose a solution but designs a process through which the parties invent their own. Difficulties include determining boundary conditions, relevant circumstances, what defines a “party”? etc.

Comprehensive: DE and its method are based on clear systems thinking, and on a broad interdisciplinary approach reflected in our curriculum development

Anticipatory: DE solutions include an anticipatory psychological element and are designed to work in “psychopolitical space”, projecting the “psychological trajectory” of the protagonists to move towards agreement

Ecological: DE is based on lucid evaluations of reality, and is the ultimate ecologically sound process since it is a psychopolitical process and needs minimal resources to execute. Externally, DE allows us to create the necessary democratic processes to motivate social change which is a condition for large-scale ecological responsibility

Verifiable: DE produces testable prescriptions

Replicable: The business and School are based on the fundamental “learnability” and replicability of DE

Achievable: DE/DE-derived concepts have already been used by others, and are in the objective interest of everyone (except warmongers). They provide deep satisfaction of being able to change the world efficiently in accordance with ethics

But DE implementation is complex so it is necessary to have a permanent high-level research & training center of excellence and to explain and publish both basic and advanced explanations in different media.

Financing
The School will start small and be financed by philanthropy, fees, and consulting work. Investing in it makes great business sense for philanthropists (apart from its ethical appeal) because their activities naturally gravitate to regions where governance is poor (see Gates’s African ventures), and suffer wastage against which there is no solution but better governance.

The company by definition is a money-making venture, but we are looking for clients and investors. Its sales pitch is compelling since the democracy consulting market is inelastic and no heavy capital investment is needed. The initial impetus came from a 2002 request from King Fahd of Saudi Arabia.

School: many people are involved in the project, including academics, university presidents, judges and the president of the European Court of Human Rights, members of the European Parliament and the Council of Europe, politicians etc.