When the people speak – and decide: deliberation and direct democracy in the citizen assembly of Glarus, Switzerland

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 371-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marlène Gerber ◽  
Sean Mueller
Keyword(s):  
Direct Democracy ◽  
The People

Open Democracy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hélène Landemore
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Democratic Representation ◽  
The People ◽  
Laws And Policies ◽  
The Right ◽  
Turn Over ◽  
The Ideal ◽  
Ordinary Citizens

To the ancient Greeks, democracy meant gathering in public and debating laws set by a randomly selected assembly of several hundred citizens. To the Icelandic Vikings, democracy meant meeting every summer in a field to discuss issues until consensus was reached. Our contemporary representative democracies are very different. Modern parliaments are gated and guarded, and it seems as if only certain people — with the right suit, accent, wealth, and connections — are welcome. Diagnosing what is wrong with representative government and aiming to recover some of the lost openness of ancient democracies, this book presents a new paradigm of democracy in which power is genuinely accessible to ordinary citizens. This book favors the ideal of “representing and being represented in turn” over direct-democracy approaches. Supporting a fresh nonelectoral understanding of democratic representation, the book recommends centering political institutions around the “open mini-public” — a large, jury-like body of randomly selected citizens gathered to define laws and policies for the polity, in connection with the larger public. It also defends five institutional principles as the foundations of an open democracy: participatory rights, deliberation, the majoritarian principle, democratic representation, and transparency. The book demonstrates that placing ordinary citizens, rather than elites, at the heart of democratic power is not only the true meaning of a government of, by, and for the people, but also feasible and, today more than ever, urgently needed.

ICT in Direct Democracy

2015 ◽  
pp. 129-137
Author(s):  
Stavros Amanatidis ◽  
Olga Eirini Palla
Keyword(s):  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Information And Communications Technology ◽  
Communications Technology ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Strong Function ◽  
Division Of Powers ◽  
The People ◽  
Technological Developments

This chapter presents and analyzes the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in public participation and more specificly in e-referenda as an aspect of direct democratic participation. It aims to explain the correlation between ICT and e-referenda. Referendum, used as an instrument to accept or deny a proposed political decision, has a strong function of controlling political power and securing the openness of political power structures. It serves as an instrument of division of powers and opens roads to opposition outside parliament. In general, it provides the people with veto positions (Schiller, 2003, p. 12). By presenting the evolvement of the ICT and the technological developments that resulted an impact on the way democracy is being exercised in the modern societies, there is an attempt to provide ideas and solutions on the use of e-referenda in modern democracies. The dangers, the advantages, and the disadvantages of the use of ICT in democracy are presented and analysed as well. All these issues are being discussed, as this chapter tries to give a clear and objective perspective regarding the role of e-democracy and the problems that come along with its implementation.

Toward E-Participation on the Basis of Era based Cellular Planning System

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 53-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Asghar Pourezzat ◽  
Seyyed Mahdi Sharifmousavi ◽  
Ghazaleh Taheri Attar ◽  
Hashem Sodagar ◽  
Majed Naji
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Planning System ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Public ◽  
The People ◽  
Information And Communication

The idea of direct democracy has been regarded as an unachievable ideal by political philosophers throughout history. Previously, the direct and sustainable participation of the public in trifling affairs related to their destiny wasn’t possible. By developing electronism, the possibility of direct and continuous polls makes direct democracy achievable. However, temporary polls can never refer to deliberated opinions of the people. Therefore, designing a system of continuously collecting public opinions about details of social life is necessary. Strategic era based cellular planning system (ECPS) using “Comprehensive system of the public information and communication” provides the capacity of gathering the opinions of various interest groups of the society as executable scenarios and saving to the database of system in order to chose them for implementation in accordance with their attractiveness and requirements of each era, depending on the opinions of the people and policy makers. In this regard, the possibility of continuous restructuring of social institutions based on deliberated opinions of people is provided. In this way, it prevents the imposition stemmed from traditions established in the old social institutions; so, democracy can be realized in its real sense away from traditions, institutions and power of political parties.

Part III Structure of State Government, 9 The State Legislative Branch

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Williams Robert F
Keyword(s):  
State Government ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
The State ◽  
State Constitutions ◽  
The People ◽  
Legislative Branch ◽  
State Legislative

This chapter discusses the fact that state constitutions create a legislative branch that is substantially different from the federal Congress. Most importantly, state legislatures exercise reserved, plenary power subject only to limitations in the state or federal Constitutions. The federal Congress, by contrast, exercises enumerated, delegated power. In addition, the state legislatures are subject to a variety of limitations on the process of lawmaking that are contained in state constitutions. The chapter discusses the variety of approaches to judicial enforcement of these procedural limitations. Finally, in a number of states, the state legislature's lawmaking power is shared with the people, who can enact or defeat laws through direct democracy, or the initiative and referendum processes.

scholarly journals Democratic Theory and the Empirical Study of Popular Vote Processes

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-125
Author(s):  
Spencer McKay
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Study ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
University Of Michigan ◽  
Secondary Effects ◽  
Popular Vote ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
Princeton University ◽  
The People ◽  
Ann Arbor ◽  
Realistic Appraisal

Altman, David. 2018. Citizenship and Contemporary Direct Democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Dyck, Joshua, and Edward Lascher. 2019. Initiatives without Engagement: A Realistic Appraisal of Direct Democracy’s Secondary Effects. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.Hollander, Saskia. 2019. The Politics of Referendum Use in European Democracies. London: Palgrave MacMillan.Matsusaka, John G. 2020. Let the People Rule: How Direct Democracy Can Meet the Populist Challenge. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

scholarly journals Rousseau, theorist of constituent power

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel Colon-Rios
Keyword(s):  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Contemporary Literature ◽  
Legal Order ◽  
Popular Sovereignty ◽  
The Other ◽  
Constituent Power ◽  
The People ◽  
Careful Exploration ◽  
The One

© The Author 2016. Rousseau has always had an uncertain relationship with the theory of constituent power. On the one hand, his distrust of political representation and support for popular sovereignty seem consistent with the idea of the people as a legally unlimited constitution-maker. On the other hand, if, from those views about representation and sovereignty, it follows that Rousseau is a proponent of direct democracy, then there seems to be no place in his thought for a theory that presupposes, above all, a separation between those who exercise a delegated authority (eg legislators) and those who possess an original constitution-making power (the people). In a legal order in which all laws must be directly made by the people, such a separation is absent: the constituent and the legislative body are one and the same. It is therefore not surprising that Rousseau's name is largely absent from contemporary literature on constituent power. In this article, however, I will show that once Rousseau's particular conception of law, as well as his distinction between sovereignty and government, are properly understood, one finds in his work not only the first major formulation of the theory of constituent power, but also a careful exploration of its implications for actual constitutional practice.

scholarly journals THE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO A JURY TRIAL AND A FAST TRIAL: THE EXPERIENCE OF THE UNITED STATES

2021 ◽  
pp. 11-13
Author(s):  
V.V. Berch
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Jury Trial ◽  
Professional Activity ◽  
The People ◽  
Administration Of Justice ◽  
Constitutional Right ◽  
The Right ◽  
Speedy Trial

The article is devoted to the consideration of the constitutional right to a trial by a jury, as well as the right to a speedy trial in accordance with the provisions of the Sixth Amendment to the US Constitution. It is noted that as of today in Ukraine there is a question of ensuring the actual (real) participation of the people in the administration of justice and the creation of an appropriate mechanism for the realization of such a right of the people. It is established that the permanent evolution of the jury trial in the world as a full-fledged element of participatory democracy allows us to assert the possibility of applying the best foreign experience in this area and for Ukraine. It is noted that the jury trial, which is typical for the United States, is undoubtedly a consequence of the borrowing of English legal customs, but has its own special features. It has been established that the right to a speedy trial should be distinguished from other constitutional rights, as it concerns the interests of society and the justice system more than the interests of the accused. The circumstances that suggest whether a trial is in fact "fast" are rather vague, as each such proceeding is to some extent unique. The requirements for members of the jury are set out in the Jury Selection Act. It is noted that the release of jurors varies depending on the state. One of the grounds for such dismissal is professional activity. For example, doctors, lawyers, public figures, police or firefighters. At the same time, this practice is gradually ceasing to be natural. It is concluded that the jury trial as a form of public participation in the administration of justice is undoubtedly a democratic legal institution. Direct democracy in the exercise of judicial power, which is carried out in compliance with the principles of publicity and adversarial proceedings promotes the establishment of citizens' faith in the fairness of judicial decisions.  

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