Between Democracy and Efficiency

Abstract

This chapter explores the organisational structures and procedures that XR rely on. We argue that XR’s organisational setup has facilitated the movement’s rapid growth but has also made internal decision-making opaque, thereby decreasing internal democracy within the movement. It is in this sense less horizontal and democratic than many other recent or contemporary social movements. Where contemporary movements often have the assembly as the decision-making body, XR’s People’s Assemblies lack power, which instead lies in the networked structure. An unequal distribution of mandates, knowledge and personal relationships here leads to a more hierarchical organisation.