Direct democracy
The theory and practice of direct democracy and participation as its common characteristic constituted the core of the work of many theorists, philosophers, politicians, and social critics, among whom the most important are Jean-Jacques Rousseau, John Stuart Mill, and G.D.H.
Semi-direct democracies, in which representatives administer day-to-day governance, but the citizens remain the sovereign, allow for three forms of popular action: referendum (plebiscite), initiative, and recall.
[3] This form of direct democracy effectively grants the voting public a veto on laws adopted by the elected legislature, as in Switzerland.
A few places have long traditions of making decisions through an open assembly, such as the Landsgemeinden of Switzerland and town meetings of New England.
[20] Some classicists have argued that the Roman republic deserves the label of "democracy", with universal suffrage for adult male citizens, popular sovereignty, and transparent deliberation of public affairs.
[21] Many historians mark the end of the Republic with the lex Titia, passed on 27 November 43 BC, which eliminated many oversight provisions.
The greatest and longest-lasting democratic leader was Pericles; after his death, Athenian democracy was twice briefly interrupted by an oligarchic revolution towards the end of the Peloponnesian War.
Professor of law Gerhard Casper writes, "Weber employed the term to stress, inter alia, the plebiscitary character of elections, disdain for parliament, the non-toleration of autonomous powers within the government and a failure to attract or suffer independent political minds.
[30] The nature of direct democracy in Switzerland is fundamentally complemented by its federal governmental structures (in German also called the Subsidiaritätsprinzip).
[30] Switzerland is a rare example of a country with instruments of direct democracy (at the levels of the municipalities, cantons, and federal state).
On any political level citizens can propose changes to the constitution (popular initiative) or ask for an optional referendum to be held on any law voted by the federal, cantonal parliament and/or municipal legislative body.
Kris Kobach, former Kansas elected official, claims that Switzerland has had tandem successes both socially and economically which are matched by only a few other nations.
Finally, the Swiss political system, including its direct democratic devices in a multi-level governance context, becomes increasingly interesting for scholars of European Union integration.
The regulation of these various and interfering interests forms the principal task of modern legislation and involves the spirit of party and faction in the necessary and ordinary operations of the government.
[A] pure democracy, by which I mean a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person, can admit no cure for the mischiefs of faction.
Hence it is, that democracies have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have, in general, been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.
John Witherspoon, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, said: "Pure democracy cannot subsist long nor be carried far into the departments of state – it is very subject to caprice and the madness of popular rage."
At the New York Ratifying Convention, Alexander Hamilton was quoted saying "that a pure democracy, if it were practicable, would be the most perfect government.
"[37][38] Despite the framers' intentions at the beginning of the republic, ballot measures and their corresponding referendums have been widely used at the state and sub-state level.
There is much state and federal case law, from the early 1900s to the 1990s, that protects the people's right to each of these direct democracy governance components (Magleby, 1984, and Zimmerman, 1999).
President Theodore Roosevelt, in his "Charter of Democracy" speech to the Ohio Constitutional Convention (1912), stated: "I believe in the Initiative and Referendum, which should be used not to destroy representative government, but to correct it whenever it becomes misrepresentative.
[42] A higher index indicates more direct democracy popular initiatives and referendums, shown below for individual countries.
Democratic theorists have identified a trilemma due to the presence of three desirable characteristics of an ideal system of direct democracy, which are challenging to deliver all at once.
Critics have historically expressed doubts of the populace's capacity of participation, both in terms of numbers and ability, deeming its advocates utopian.
[citation needed] Despite this, instances of direct democracy - such as the Petrograd Soviet - lack documented incidents involving participation deficits or mobocracy.
[citation needed] From the liberal democratic standpoint, restraining popular influence stonewalls the state of nature, protecting property rights.
[citation needed] MAREZ, utilizing sortition, had managed itself successfully prior to being overrun by drug cartels, as did FEJUVE remaining tranquil with self-managed organizations.
[citation needed] Although Revolutionary Catalonia had demonstrated the feasibility of non-liberal democracy, critics have continued to deride its presumed mobocratic nature, although there are no recorded instances of tyranny of the majority.
