Direct democracy

Direct democracy comprises a form of democracy and theory of civics wherein all citizens can directly participate in the political decision-making process. Some proposed systems would give people both legislative and executive powers, but most extant systems allow input into the legislative process only.

Pros and cons

The main objection to direct democracy is that the general public is an a poor position to judge the appropriate actions of government. The public is not as interested or informed as their elected representatives. Much of the public only has a superficial understanding of most political issues and is likely to be swayed by a charismatic yet irrational argument. Representative democracy, it is argued, represents a compromise between the mob rule of direct democracy and the autocracy of a dictatorship. It has been said that the public may not be good at making good political decisions, but they are good at choosing the people to make those decisions.

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The traditional, and to many still compelling, objection to direct democracy is that it is open to demagoguery. Another objection to direct democracy is that of practicality and efficiency. Deciding all or most matters of public importance by direct referendum is slow and expensive, and can result in public apathy and voter fatigue. Modern advocates of direct democracy often suggest e-democracy (sometimes including wikis, television and Internet forums) as a method of reducing these problems.

Related Topics:
Demagogue - Apathy - Voter fatigue - Wiki - Television - Internet forum

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It's also believed that direct democracy operates best in smaller communities or populations. Larger communities would be too complex and extensive for direct democracy to work efficiently.

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Since referendum questions have to be short and have a yes/no answer, voters may choose incoherent policies: for instance, a majority may vote in favor of reducing taxes, while a majority may also vote for increasing expenses for public education.

Related Topics:
Taxes - Public education

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A common answer to the above problem in normal governance is hypothecation of taxes. The common response to this criticism of direct democracy is that the problem of inconsistent decision making is not only found in direct democracy.

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In seeking to limit the popularity and societal foothold that direct democratic principles could naturally attain, government officials and adherents to strict republican principles tend to use memes such as "mob rule" to exacerbate a natural tendency in citizens to fear what might happen (especially with regards to their fundamental civil liberties) if all their fellow citizens were to directly make decisions on a significant degree of public policy.

Related Topics:
Popularity - Republican - Memes - Mob rule - Civil liberties

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Some political scholars use the term semi-direct democracy to describe direct democracy systems that are mediated in some way to protect civil liberties as well as protecting minority interests from majoritarianism. However, since direct democracy mechanisms are almost always mediated in this way, this term suggests a grey area where there is most likely none.

Related Topics:
Minority - Majoritarianism - Grey area

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Interestingly, direct democracy models in practice usually focus on the adversarial process of advocating and choosing one of usually two broad or sweeping options defined for the citizens by experts. They usually de-emphasize the deeper, and some would argue more "direct" to public concerns, deliberation required for agreement that actually stands the test of time. For this reason, direct democracy is associated more with right-wing or left-wing politics, as shown by who backs many initiatives in U.S. states that provide for them. Note however that any decision resulting from an initiative must comply with prevailing constitutional law, which usually includes disallowing any abrogation of civil liberties. Thus, initiative results are often challenged in the courts.

Related Topics:
Adversarial process - Deliberation - Right-wing - Left-wing - Constitutional law - Court

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The Canadian citizens' assembly model avoids many of the disadvantages of direct democracy and sets up a deliberative and consensual process quite different to initiatives and referendums. (See Direct democracy in Canada below.)

Related Topics:
Canadian - Citizens' assembly - ''Direct democracy in Canada''

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