• What is the World Parliament Experiment (WPE)?

The World Parliament Experiment is a generic simulation of a working Global Democracy on the Internet. For this purpose it mirrors the main political institutions of an existing state. As a model of democratic opinion making and policy execution it can be generalized to all organizational and institutional settings, including corporations, governmental subsystems, non-governmental organizations, and large, multi-site peer groups.

• What is the purpose of the World Parliament Experiment?

The WPE aims at providing a platform on which each human being can discuss and vote on issues of international relations. The results are supposed to be introduced into the real political process.

• How does the decision making process work?

Our decision making process makes sure that everyone in the WPE can influence any aspect of the WPE at any time. This is guaranteed in the following way:

Step 1: Every participant has the right to submit "future votes" concerning contents, procedures or representatives of the system.

Step 2: The future votes are evaluated by the other participants and selected for voting.

Step 3: The most selected future votes get on a regularly updated list of "current votes", the participants vote in favor or against.

Step 4: Past current votes are collected as "past votes" in an archive. Past votes with a minimum participation and a majority in favor are adopted.

Step 5: Through future votes, or by design, the participants elect a representative ("speaker"). It is the task of the speaker to implement the program in the reality of the organization addressed. The speaker (or the participants) can appoint or elect representatives to implement various tasks.

• Who founded the World Parliament Experiment?

Rasmus Tenbergen founded the WPE. The WPE is a private initiative of young professionals and scientists who have been political activists in several fields for many years.

• How can I participate?

Each person may take part in the World Parliament Experiment. The only formal requirement for participation is to register. For registration, please follow the instructions on the main page.
There are several possibilities to participate. You could:

- vote on issues, persons, and procedures;
- discuss petitions in the Discussions section;
- bring petitions;
- nominate participants for positions
- run for Speaker or other positions to be created

• What is “Delegated Voting”?

Participants can delegate their votes to representatives and take it back at any time. They have three options: No delegation, random delegation, and delegation to a chosen person. If participants delegate their vote and do not vote themselves, the delegate uses the vote and the participant can see the result in the delegate’s profile (for more information please go to http://www.tgde.org/delegation.phtml).

• Why does the system count many votes even if only a few people participate?

This is because of the delegated voting system, see: http://www.tgde.org/delegation.phtml.

• Why do you call it “World Parliament”? Isn't this more a “Direct World Democracy”?

Our project has elements of direct democracy and of representative democracy. The parliament name has to aspects: first, that everybody can have a function similar to a parliamentarian, wich will of course be more difficult in the long run with many participants, and second, that through the delegated voting system you can give a mandate to other participants (your “parliamentarian”) to represent you. Therefore, we should call the participants, who get the most delegated votes (see list “ranking delegated votes”: http://www.tgde.org/ranking2.phtml) provisional “members of the world parliament”.

• Is this a “Free Software” Project?

Yes, this is a Free Software Project. We are always looking for help to develop it. So, if you are a coder and are willing to help us, please let us know, it is very much appreciated. You can download the zipped sourcecode here: WPE SOURCE 05/07

• Where can I find old votes?

If they were successful: in the program, if not in past votes. You can use the search function to make it easier.

• I lost my password, what can I do?

Go to “password help” on the first page and you will get a new one there. To make it easier, you can change your password in your profile.

• How does the General Assembly work?

The General Assembly is the legislative body of the WPE. It consists of all registered participants. Its main purposes are to vote on petitions which were brought; to elect representatives; and to determine procedures. The GA may vote on all issues except on the Basic Rules.

• How are the petitions processed?

Each participant has the right to submit petitions. All petitions must be structured in a "Yes" or "No" format. All submitted petitions which have not yet been decided on are listed on the "future votes"" sections of the WPE site, and are supposed to be debated on in the Discussions section of the WPE. Each participant is asked to nominate 10 petitions per week for the "current votes" section. The five top-ranked petitions will be subject of a vote in the respective following week. Votes are accepted if a majority votes in favor of the petition.

• What does the Program of the WPE include?

The totality of the adopted petitions forms the Program of the WPE. Furthermore, the Basic Rules are part of the program. The Basic Rules can be found on the Rules page.

• How does the WPE intend to introduce its results into the real political process?

The more people participate in the WPE, the more likely they will be to be able to influence real-world decisions. The WPE government will approach decision-makers and tell them how many people support specific ideas.

• How can I ask the WPE team a question?

Just send us an e-mail to: team@world-democracy.org.