What is direct democracy?
by Steve Baron
(909 words)
[
Steve Baron holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science & Economics. He is a published author, a regular columnist in various publications throughout NZ, the Founder of Better Democracy NZ, a former businessman and Waipa Mayoral candidate.
]
Direct democracy
is a concept that a growing number of citizens and states around theworld are exploring and embracing. There are 190 million people in Switzerland, Italy,Liechtenstein and 24 States in the USA who now embrace the referendum system. 70% of the US population now live in a state that gives them the right to vote on initiatives andreferendums.To many people, direct democracy can mean different things. Some picture theclassical/pre-modern (Athens) style of direct democracy where citizens meet in the townsquare and decide on important issues. Others see it as an opportunity to rid the world of devious self-serving politicians, where we can all sit at home and make all necessarypolitical decisions via our laptops. Whatever it means to you, direct democracy hascertainly become a much discussed topic over the last twenty or so years even though ithas had numerous critics.Direct democracy would appear to offer citizens more control over controversial andpolarizing issues that directly affect their lives. That is not to say that direct democracy is areplacement for representative democracy, only that it can be an adjunct to it. Onedefinition has direct democracy as, “A form of state in which the sovereign power is held by
the People, i.e., national sovereignty belongs directly to the People. The People alsoexercise their sovereignty directly, for example by means of popular legislation.”
.
My owndefinition would be:
the right of citizens to initiate referendums on any issue, to vetolegislation, and for these decisions to be binding on parliament
.There are a number of parts to direct democracy: general elections, citizens' initiatives,referendums, recalls, and plebiscites. A lot of misunderstanding and confusion could beavoided if these issues were all clearly distinguished from one another, along with their procedures. Of course, there are also many forms of election systems but these will not bediscussed here.The
Citizens’ Initiated
referendum allows for one or more citizens to put their own proposalon the political agenda once the required number of signatures have been collected totrigger the citizens’ initiative. It is interesting to note here that only about 10% of citizens'initiatives actually pass in Switzerland, the birthplace of direct democracy. The signaturerequirement range is from as low as 2% and sometimes as high as 15%.An O
bligatory referendum
is triggered automatically by law, usually by a constitution whichrequires that certain issues must be put before the voters for approval or rejection.A Veto
referendum
(Facultative or optional referendum in Switzerland) is when new laws,or changes to laws which have been passed by parliament, can be subject to areferendum if the required number of citizens demand it. The new law becomes effective if the majority of the votes were in favour of it. It is worth noting that of the more than 2,200laws passed by the Swiss parliament since 1874, only 7% have been subjected to a Vetoreferendum.A R
ecall referendum
can be launched to remove corrupt elected officials, or to removeelected representatives whose policies and performance are found wanting. A high profileexample of this was when Governor Grey of California was replaced in a recall by actor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The recall operates in a similar fashion to the citizens' initiativewhere citizens collect the required amount of signatures, and once this has been achieved,
Search History:
Result 00 of 00
00 results for result for
p.
More From This User
Notes
Load more
