We, as the Third Republic Platform, believe that there is a need for a political change in Azerbaijan. This need is driven by injustice, widespread corruption, deep inequality in the distribution of wealth, stifling of initiatives, and political apathy created by the current illegitimate governance.

 

The roots of all the problems in the country are political, and we know how to solve them.

 

Our main goal is to publicly point out the political nature of these problems in order to motivate the society to engage in public discussion. Public discussion requires broad participation of society. And participation is one of the main pillars of republicanism. We aim to encourage public participation in the public discussions in accordance with the principle of true republicanism.

 

Below, we present the pillars of our identity:

 

Our founding principle is human dignity: Everyone, regardless of who they are, is unique and valuable. Since the purpose of the state is to protect human dignity, any abstract interest of the state cannot be superior to human dignity.

 

Our vision is to build a society where human dignity is of paramount importance.

 

Our mission is to ensure the transition from a governed society to a self-governing society.

 

Our values are Republicanism, Secularity, and Decentralization (RSD).

 

Republicanism means that the central government receives the trust of the people on the basis of free and fair elections and the distribution of basic powers (legislative, executive, and judicial) based on the balance of power.

 

Secularism means that the source of political decision-making and governance is based on the human rights principles rather than on any religious rules.

 

Decentralization means the establishment of a balance of power between the center and regions; that is,  the distribution of the powers and resources between the central government and local self-government.

 

According to our conceptual framework, the state regime of Azerbaijan should be a secular republic based on democracy and its political system should be parliamentarism based on decentralization.

 

We believe that decentralization of Azerbaijan is vital in order to address the following problems caused by political centralization: 

 

• Political centralization leads to despotism, jeopardizing the citizens’ fundamental rights, such as the right to a safe and dignified life as well as the right to be co-authors of all decisions affecting their lives;

• Political centralization favors bureaucratic-corruption management, which hinders the timely and effective solution of public problems.

 

The benefits of decentralization are as follows:

 

• Decentralization prevents the formation and continuation of tyranny through the distribution of political power concentrated in a single hand in favor of regions;

• Decentralization ensures the participation of the people in decision-making about their own fate;

• Decentralization promotes the development of political institutions in the regions and the formation of local political elites;

• Decentralization fosters inter-regional competition at the political-economic level and increases the potential of regions to take more effective steps about their future.

 

We distinguish two forms of decentralization:

 

1. political;

2. functional.

 

Political decentralization entails giving more decision-making authority to people's representatives. Political decentralization, in line with the idea of republicanism, necessitates constitutional and legislative reforms,  pluralist democracy, effective multi-party system, and strong local self-government. This structure establishes an effective mechanism against the establishment and strengthening of any form of central authoritarian system in the country. The development of the local representative  institutions is the most widespread form of political decentralization. The central government transfers the powers of local administration and decision-making to self-governing institutions, and the control over the implementation of these powers is also transferred from the central government to local elected bodies.

 

Functional decentralization is the transfer of administrative, economic, and financial powers to local self-government bodies in the provision of services. The central government becomes free of functions that are costly to society and reorients its routine functions to political issues.

 

History has shown that true republicanism and democracy cannot be realized without decentralization!

 

The formula of true republicanism is: We obey the Law, not the "One Person"!