A government by the people: direct democracy in America, 1890-1940

2002 ◽  
Vol 40 (04) ◽  
pp. 40-2463-40-2463
Keyword(s):  
Direct Democracy ◽  
The People ◽  
Democracy In America

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.

Attacking the French Tradition

Tocqueville ◽  
2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucien Jaume
Keyword(s):  
Political Action ◽  
The Public ◽  
The People ◽  
The Social ◽  
Moral Power ◽  
Democracy In America ◽  
French Tradition ◽  
Decentralized Government

This chapter argues that traditionalists fail to realize the fact that for Tocqueville, the power of the people was above all a sociological and moral power, not an institutional one. Democracy in America offered an original conception of His Majesty the Majority, which was still called “the Public.” In Tocqueville's eyes, the various organs of decentralized government—the communes (dominated by great landowners) of which the monarchists dreamed, the associations of families in Lamennais, the “social authorities” exalted by Le Play and his followers—made sense only in this context. The Public was not a phantom conjured up by political dreams—a liberal illusion that in Le Play's view stemmed from “the so-called principles of 1789.” The Public was the new subject of history, or at any rate the quintessential totem of political action.

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.

scholarly journals Direct Democracy in America

1999 ◽  
Vol 97 (6) ◽  
pp. 1560
Author(s):  
Sherman J. Clark ◽  
Phillip L. Dubois ◽  
Floyd Feeney ◽  
Peter Schrag
Keyword(s):  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Democracy In America

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.

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