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79-622: As an institution, the Sich Rada was a form of direct democracy where rights of individual cossacks were preserved through participation in the Rada. It was able to decide when to go to war and when to conclude a peace treaty. It elected the officer staff ( starshyna ), with the Kosh otaman at its head. It received foreign diplomats and determined the course of diplomatic relations . The Sich Rada also fulfilled certain economic functions, such as

158-546: A preferendum when the choices given allow the voters to weight their support for a policy. In Switzerland , for example, multiple choice referendums are common. Two multiple choice referendums were held in Sweden , in 1957 and in 1980, in which voters were offered three options. In 1977, a referendum held in Australia to determine a new national anthem was held, in which voters had four choices. In 1992, New Zealand held

237-530: A modern state in 1848 . Italy ranks second with 78 national referendums : 72 popular referendums (51 of which were proposed by the Radical Party ), 4 constitutional referendums, one institutional referendum and one advisory referendum . A referendum usually offers the electorate a straight choice between accepting or rejecting a proposal. However some referendums give voters multiple choices, and some use transferable voting. This has also been called

316-422: 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. These three characteristics are participation – widespread participation in the decision-making process by the people affected; deliberation – a rational discussion where all major points of view are weighted according to evidence; and equality – all members of

395-432: A 'referendum' is often said to be a vote to change the federal constitution and 'plebiscite' a vote which does not affect the federal constitution. However, this is erroneous as not all federal referendums have been on constitutional matters (such as the 1916 Australian conscription referendum ), and state votes that likewise do not affect either the federal or state constitution are frequently said to be referendums (such as

474-523: A Latin gerund, referendum has no plural). The Latin plural gerundive 'referenda', meaning 'things to be referred', necessarily connotes a plurality of issues. It is closely related to agenda , "those matters which must be driven forward", from ago , to impel or drive forwards; and memorandum , "that matter which must be remembered", from memoro , to call to mind, corrigenda , from rego , to rule, make straight, those things which must be made straight (corrected), etc. The term 'plebiscite' has

553-506: A Latin word and attempting to apply to it the rules of Latin grammar) is unsupportable according to the rules of both Latin and English grammar. The use of "referenda" as a plural form is posited hypothetically as either a gerund or a gerundive by the Oxford English Dictionary , which rules out such usage in both cases as follows: Referendums is logically preferable as a plural form meaning 'ballots on one issue' (as

632-421: A binding popular vote. This is the most common form of direct legislation. A popular referendum empowers citizens to make a petition that calls existing legislation to a vote by the citizens. Institutions specify the timeframe for a valid petition and the number of signatures required and may require signatures from diverse communities to protect minority interests. This form of direct democracy effectively grants

711-442: A cost of sacrificing equality, because if widespread participation is allowed, sufficient resources rarely will be available to compensate people who sacrifice their time to participate in the deliberation. Therefore, participants tend to be those with a strong interest in the issue to be decided and often will not therefore be representative of the overall population. Fishkin instead argues that random sampling should be used to select

790-523: A few other nations. Kobach states at the end of his book, "Too often, observers deem Switzerland an oddity among political systems. It is more appropriate to regard it as a pioneer." 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. In the New England region of

869-411: A five-option referendum on their electoral system. In 1982, Guam had a referendum that used six options, with an additional blank option for those wishing to (campaign and) vote for their own seventh option. A multiple choice referendum poses the question of how the result is to be determined. They may be set up so that if no single option receives the support of an absolute majority (more than half) of

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948-608: A form of indirect initiative. A deliberative referendum is a referendum that increases public deliberation through purposeful institutional design. Power of recall gives the public the power to remove elected officials from office before the end of their designated standard term of office. Mandatory referendums correspond to majority rule while optional referendums and popular initiatives correspond to consensus democracy (e.g. Switzerland). One strand of thought sees direct democracy as common and widespread in pre-state societies. The earliest well-documented direct democracy

1027-591: A generally similar meaning in modern usage and comes from the Latin plebiscita , which originally meant a decree of the Concilium Plebis (Plebeian Council), the popular assembly of the Roman Republic . Today, a referendum can also often be referred to as a plebiscite, but in some countries the two terms are used differently to refer to votes with differing types of legal consequences. In Australia,

1106-418: A like discrimination. A landed interest, a manufacturing interest, a mercantile interest, a moneyed interest, with many lesser interests, grow up of necessity in civilized nations, and divide them into different classes, actuated by different sentiments and views. The regulation of these various and interfering interests forms the principal task of modern legislation and involves the spirit of party and faction in

1185-526: A majority of individuals voting, and also by a majority of cantons. Thus, in Switzerland, a citizen-proposed amendment to the federal constitution (i.e. popular initiative ) cannot be passed at the federal level if a majority of the people approve but a majority of the cantons disapprove. For referendums or propositions in general terms (like the principle of a general revision of the Constitution),

1264-715: A majority of those voting is sufficient (Swiss Constitution, 2005). In 1890, when the provisions for Swiss national citizen lawmaking were being debated by civil society and government, the Swiss adopted the idea of double majorities from the United States Congress , in which House votes were to represent the people and Senate votes were to represent the states . According to its supporters, this "legitimacy-rich" approach to national citizen lawmaking has been very successful. Kris Kobach , former Kansas elected official, claims that Switzerland has had tandem successes both socially and economically which are matched by only

1343-409: A motivated minority of voters. Referendums may require a turnout threshold (also called a participation quorum) in order for the referendum to be considered legally valid. In a participation quorum a majority of those voting must approve of the referendum, and a certain percentage of population must have voted in order for the results to be approved. The usage of participation quorums in referendums

1422-460: A proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either binding (resulting in the adoption of a new policy ) or advisory (functioning like a large-scale opinion poll ). 'Referendum' is the gerundive form of the Latin verb referre , literally "to carry back" (from the verb ferre , "to bear, bring, carry" plus the inseparable prefix re- , here meaning "back" ). As a gerundive

1501-409: A referendum are more likely to be driven by transient whims than by careful deliberation, or that they are not sufficiently informed to make decisions on complicated or technical issues. Also, voters might be swayed by propaganda , strong personalities, intimidation, and expensive advertising campaigns. James Madison argued that direct democracy is the " tyranny of the majority ". Some opposition to

1580-473: A referendum. Therefore avoid referendums. Therefore don't raise questions which require them, such as the big versus the little states. Some critics of the referendum attack the use of closed questions. A difficulty called the separability problem can plague a referendum on two or more issues. If one issue is in fact, or in perception, related to another on the ballot, the imposed simultaneous voting of first preference on each issue can result in an outcome which

1659-456: A representative random sample of people chosen to take part in the discussion. In the definition used by scholars such as James Fishkin , deliberative democracy is a form of direct democracy which satisfies the requirement for deliberation and equality but does not make provision to involve everyone who wants to be included in the discussion. Participatory democracy , by Fishkin's definition, allows inclusive participation and deliberation, but at

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1738-539: A separate vote on each of the multiple options as well as an additional decision about which of the multiple options should be preferred. In the Swedish case, in both referendums the 'winning' option was chosen by the Single Member Plurality ("first past the post") system. In other words, the winning option was deemed to be that supported by a plurality , rather than an absolute majority, of voters. In

1817-412: A small, but still representative, number of people from the general public. Fishkin concedes it is possible to imagine a system that transcends the trilemma, but it would require very radical reforms if such a system were to be integrated into mainstream politics. Democratic schools modeled on Summerhill School resolve conflicts and make school policy decisions through full school meetings in which

1896-465: A valuable experience-base with the national-level constitutional amendment initiative. In the past 120 years, more than 240 initiatives have been put to referendums. Most popular initiatives are discussed and approved by the Parliament before the referendum. Out of the remaining initiatives that go to the referendum, only about 10% are approved by voters; in addition, voters often opt for a version of

1975-459: Is "fit for" doing. Its use as a noun in English is not considered a strictly grammatical usage of a foreign word but is rather a newly coined English noun, which follows English grammatical usage, not Latin grammatical usage. This determines the form of the plural in English, which according to English grammar should be "referendums". The use of "referenda" as a plural form in English (treating it as

2054-508: Is a class of referendum required to be voted on if certain conditions are met or for certain government actions to be taken. They do not require any signatures from the public. In areas that use referendums a mandatory referendum is commonly used as a legally required step for ratification for constitutional changes, ratifying international treaties and joining international organizations, and certain types of public spending. Typical types of mandatory referendums include: An optional referendum

2133-408: Is a class of referendums that is put to the vote as a result of a demand. This may come from the executive branch, legislative branch, or a request from the people (often after meeting a signature requirement). Types of optional referendums include: From a political-philosophical perspective, referendums are an expression of direct democracy , but today, most referendums need to be understood within

2212-411: Is an adjective , not a noun , it cannot be used alone in Latin, and must be contained within a context attached to a noun such as Propositum quod referendum est populo , "A proposal which must be carried back to the people". The addition of the verb sum (3rd person singular, est ) to a gerundive, denotes the idea of necessity or compulsion, that which "must" be done, rather than that which

2291-468: Is argued as the reason why, since World War II , there has been no provision in Germany for the holding of referendums at the federal level. In recent years, referendums have been used strategically by several European governments trying to pursue political and electoral goals. In 1995, John Bruton considered that All governments are unpopular. Given the chance, people would vote against them in

2370-463: Is controversial, as higher requirements have been shown to reduced turnout and voter participation. With high participation quorums, the opposition of a referendum has an interest in abstaining from the vote instead of participating, in order to invalidate the referendum results through low turnout. This is a form of the no-show paradox . All others who are not voting for other reasons, including those with no opinion, are effectively also voting against

2449-661: Is displeasing to most. Several commentators have noted that the use of citizens' initiatives to amend constitutions has so tied the government to a jumble of popular demands as to render the government unworkable. A 2009 article in The Economist argued that this had restricted the ability of the California state government to tax the people and pass the budget, and called for an entirely new Californian constitution. A similar problem also arises when elected governments accumulate excessive debts. That can severely reduce

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2528-575: Is fundamentally complemented by its federal governmental structures (in German also called the Subsidiaritätsprinzip ). Most western countries have representative systems. Switzerland is a rare example of a country with instruments of direct democracy (at the levels of the municipalities, cantons , and federal state ). Citizens have more power than in a representative democracy. On any political level citizens can propose changes to

2607-585: Is said to be the Athenian democracy of the 5th century BC. The main bodies in the Athenian democracy were the assembly , composed of male citizens; the boulê , composed of 500 citizens; and the law courts, composed of a massive number of jurors chosen by lot, with no judges. Ancient Attica had only about 30,000 male citizens, but several thousand of them were politically active in each year and many of them quite regularly for years on end. The Athenian democracy

2686-416: The 2009 Western Australian daylight saving referendum ). Historically, they are used by Australians interchangeably and a plebiscite was considered another name for a referendum. In Ireland, 'plebiscite' referred to the vote to adopt its constitution, but a subsequent vote to amend the constitution is called a 'referendum', as is a poll of the electorate on a non-constitutional bill. The name and use of

2765-558: The constitution , but at least 1,500 citizens must vote affirmative, so referendums to suspend parliament or change the constitution fail if they have low turnout even if the required percentage of total voters is met. The pure form of direct democracy exists only in the Swiss cantons of Appenzell Innerrhoden and Glarus . The Swiss Confederation is a semi-direct democracy (representative democracy with strong instruments of direct democracy). The nature of direct democracy in Switzerland

2844-583: The free software movement to the governance of people, allowing the entire populace to participate in government directly, as much or as little as they please. Athenian democracy developed in the Greek city-state of Athens , comprising the city of Athens and the surrounding territory of Attica , around 600 BC. Athens was one of the first known democracies . Other Greek cities set up democracies, and even though most followed an Athenian model, none were as powerful, stable, or well-documented as that of Athens. In

2923-481: The liberal democratic standpoint, restraining popular influence stonewalls the state of nature , protecting property rights . Adversaries of greater democratization cast doubt on human nature , painting a narrative of misinformation and impulsivity. MAREZ , utilizing sortition , had managed itself successfully prior to being overrun by drug cartels, as did FEJUVE remaining tranquil with self-managed organizations. Although Revolutionary Catalonia had demonstrated

3002-484: The 'referendum' is thought to have originated in the Swiss canton of Graubünden as early as the 16th century. After a reduction in the number of referendums in the Mid-twentieth century, the referendum as a political tool has been increasing in popularity since the 1970s. This increase has been attributed to dealignment of the public with political parties, as specific policy issues became more important to

3081-522: The 1977 Australian referendum, the winner was chosen by the system of preferential instant-runoff voting (IRV). Polls in Newfoundland (1949) and Guam (1982), for example, were counted under a form of the two-round system , and an unusual form of TRS was used in the 1992 New Zealand poll. Although California has not held multiple-choice referendums in the Swiss or Swedish sense (in which only one of several counter-propositions can be victorious, and

3160-490: The New York Ratifying Convention, Alexander Hamilton was quoted saying "that a pure democracy, if it were practicable, would be the most perfect government. Experience has proved that no position is falser than this. The ancient democracies in which the people themselves deliberated never possessed one good feature of government. Their very character was tyranny; their figure, deformity." Despite

3239-534: The Roman kingdom until after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD, it did not embody a purely democratic approach, being made up – during the late republic – of former elected officials, providing advice rather than creating law. The democratic aspect of the constitution resided in the Roman popular assemblies , where the people organized into centuriae or into tribes – depending on

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3318-423: The Swiss electorate and cantons, on cantonal/communal levels often any financial decision of a certain substantial amount decreed by legislative and/or executive bodies as well. Swiss citizens vote regularly on any kind of issue on every political level, such as financial approvals of a schoolhouse or the building of a new street, or the change of the policy regarding sexual work, or on constitutional changes, or on

3397-548: The United States, towns in states such as Vermont decide local affairs through the direct democratic process of the town meeting . This is the oldest form of direct democracy in the United States and predates the founding of the country by at least a century. Direct democracy was not what the framers of the United States Constitution envisioned for the nation. They saw a danger in tyranny of

3476-578: The assembly – and cast votes on various matters, including elections and laws, proposed before them by their elected magistrates. 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. Many historians mark the end of the Republic with the lex Titia , passed on 27 November 43 BC, which eliminated many oversight provisions. Modern-era citizen-lawmaking occurs in

3555-543: The brother of the tyrant Hippias , was killed by Harmodius and Aristogeiton , who were subsequently honored by the Athenians for their alleged restoration of Athenian freedom. 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 . It was modified somewhat after it

3634-407: The cantons of Switzerland from the 13th century. In 1848 the Swiss added the "statute referendum" to their national constitution, requiring the public to vote on if a constitutional change should occur. They soon discovered that merely having the power to veto Parliament's laws was not enough. In 1891 they added the "constitutional amendment initiative". Swiss politics since 1891 have given the world

3713-698: The citizen lawmaking was in Pacific States Telephone and Telegraph Company v. Oregon , 223 U.S. 118 in 1912 (Zimmerman, December 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." In various states, referendums through which

3792-403: The citizens remain the sovereign, allow for three forms of popular action: referendum (plebiscite), initiative , and recall . The first two forms—referendums and initiatives—are examples of direct legislation. As of 2019 , thirty countries allowed for referendums initiated by the population on the national level. A compulsory referendum subjects the legislation drafted by political elites to

3871-405: 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. The list for mandatory or optional referendums on each political level are generally much longer in Switzerland than in any other country; for example, any amendment to the constitution must automatically be voted on by

3950-485: The context of representative democracy . They tend to be used quite selectively, covering issues such as changes in voting systems, where currently elected officials may not have the legitimacy or inclination to implement such changes. Since the end of the 18th century, hundreds of national referendums have been organised in the world; almost 600 national votes have been held in Switzerland since its inauguration as

4029-487: The democratic process. Also relevant to the history of direct democracy is the history of Ancient Rome , specifically during the Roman Republic , traditionally founded around 509 BC. Rome displayed many aspects of democracy, both direct and indirect, from the era of Roman monarchy all the way to the collapse of the Roman Empire . While the Roman senate was the main body with historical longevity, lasting from

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4108-409: The development of Athenian democracy. Historians differ on which of them was responsible for which institution, and which of them most represented a truly democratic movement. It is most usual to date Athenian democracy from Cleisthenes since Solon's constitution fell and was replaced by the tyranny of Peisistratus , whereas Ephialtes revised Cleisthenes' constitution relatively peacefully. Hipparchus ,

4187-465: The direct democracy of Athens, the citizens did not nominate representatives to vote on legislation and executive bills on their behalf (as in the United States) but instead voted as individuals. The public opinion of voters was influenced by the political satire of the comic poets in the theatres . Solon (594 BC), Cleisthenes (508–507 BCE), and Ephialtes (462 BC) all contributed to

4266-471: The direct initiative, a successful proposition is placed directly on the ballot to be subject to vote (as exemplified by California's system). With an indirect initiative, a successful proposition is first presented to the legislature for their consideration; however, if no acceptable action is taken after a designated period of time, the proposition moves to direct popular vote. Constitutional amendments in Switzerland , Liechtenstein or Uruguay goes through such

4345-471: The distribution of the communal agricultural and fishing districts among the kurins of the Sich. This Ukrainian history –related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Direct democracy Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the electorate decides on policy initiatives without elected representatives as proxies. This differs from

4424-519: The effective margin for later governments. Both these problems can be moderated by a combination of other measures as Referendums occur occasionally rather than periodically as elections are and they don’t offer the same kind of formal opposition. Because referendums affect for a longer term than legislative deliberation, a turnout and supermajority requirement is necessary to maintain principles of majoritarianism. In republic polities, referendums could be used to bypass legislatures and representatives by

4503-432: 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 . It is of note that direct democracy's critics have emerged from Hobbesian and liberal philosophy. Referendum A referendum , plebiscite , or ballot measure is a direct vote by the electorate (rather than their representatives ) on

4582-492: The foreign policy of Switzerland, four times a year. Between January 1995 and June 2005, Swiss citizens voted 31 times, on 103 federal questions besides many more cantonal and municipal questions. During the same period, French citizens participated in only two referendums. In Switzerland , simple majorities are sufficient at the municipal and cantonal level, at the federal level double majorities are required on constitutional issues. A double majority requires approval by

4661-430: 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). The first United States Supreme Court ruling in favor of

4740-470: The initiative rewritten by the government. (See "Direct democracy in Switzerland" below.) Some of the issues surrounding the related notion of a direct democracy using the Internet and other communications technologies are dealt with in the article on e-democracy and below under the heading Electronic direct democracy . More concisely, the concept of open-source governance applies principles of

4819-682: The losing proposals are wholly null and void), it does have so many yes-or-no referendums at each election day that conflicts arise. The State's constitution provides a method for resolving conflicts when two or more inconsistent propositions are passed on the same day. This is a de facto form of approval voting —i.e. the proposition with the most "yes" votes prevails over the others to the extent of any conflict. Other voting systems that could be used in multiple-choice referendum are Condorcet method and quadratic voting (including quadratic funding ). Quorums are typically introduced to prevent referendum results from being skewed by low turnout or decided by

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4898-550: The majority . As a result, they advocated a representative democracy in the form of a constitutional republic over a direct democracy. For example, James Madison , in Federalist No. 10 , advocates a constitutional republic over direct democracy precisely to protect the individual from the will of the majority. He says, Those who hold and those who are without property have ever formed distinct interests in society. Those who are creditors, and those who are debtors, fall under

4977-401: The majority of currently established democracies, which are representative democracies . 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. Cole . In direct democracy

5056-481: 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. A common passion or interest will be felt by a majority, and there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party. Hence it is, that democracies have ever been found incompatible with personal security or

5135-577: The people decide on policies without any intermediary or representative, whereas in a representative democracy people vote for representatives who then enact policy initiatives. Depending on the particular system in use, direct democracy might entail passing executive decisions, the use of sortition , making laws , directly electing or dismissing officials, and conducting trials . Two leading forms of direct democracy are participatory democracy and deliberative democracy . Semi-direct democracies, in which representatives administer day-to-day governance, but

5214-547: The people rule include: The strength of direct democracy in individual countries can be quantitatively compared by the Citizen-initiated component of direct popular vote index in V-Dem Democracy indices . A higher index indicates more direct democracy popular initiatives and referendums, shown below for individual countries. Only countries with index above 0 are shown. Democratic theorists have identified

5293-451: The population on whose behalf decisions are taken have an equal chance of having their views taken into account. Empirical evidence from dozens of studies suggests deliberation leads to better decision making. The most popularly disputed form of direct popular participation is the referendum on constitutional matters. For the system to respect the principle of political equality, either everyone needs to be involved or there needs to be

5372-458: The public than party identifiers. The term "referendum" covers a variety of different meanings, and the terminology is different depending on the us that holds them. A referendum can be binding or advisory. In some countries, different names are used for these two types of referendum. Referendums can be further classified by who initiates them. David Altman proposes four dimensions that referendums can be classified by: A mandatory referendum

5451-522: The referendum has arisen from its use by dictators such as Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini who, it is argued, used the plebiscite to disguise oppressive policies as populism . Dictators may also make use of referendums as well as show elections to further legitimize their authority such as António de Oliveira Salazar in 1933 ; Benito Mussolini in 1934 ; Adolf Hitler in 1934 , 1936 ; Francisco Franco in 1947 ; Park Chung Hee in 1972 ; and Ferdinand Marcos in 1973 . Hitler's use of plebiscites

5530-881: The referendum to take place. In one such challenge, in 2017, the Spanish Constitutional Court suspended the Catalonia 's independence referendum . In post-referendum disputes, they challenge the result. British courts dismissed post-referendum challenges of the Brexit referendum. International tribunals have traditionally not interfered with referendum disputes. In 2021, the European Court of Human Rights extended its jurisdiction to referendums in its judgment Toplak and Mrak v. Slovenia , initiated by two disabled voters over polling place access . In Political Governance states that voters in

5609-499: The referendum. In the 2005 Italian fertility laws referendum , opposition to the proposed loosening of laws on research on embryos and on allowing in-vitro fertilization , campaigned for people to abstain from voting to drive down turnout. Although a majority of people voted yes for the changes in the law, the results were invalid because participation was low. Important referendums are frequently challenged in courts. In pre-referendum disputes, plaintiffs have often tried to prevent

5688-464: The rights of property; and have, in general, been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths. Other framers spoke against pure democracy. 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

5767-480: 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." Despite being a monarchy, direct democracy is considered to be an engrained element of Liechtensteiner politics . If called for by at least 1,000 citizens, a referendum on any law can be initiated. Referendums can suspend parliament or change

5846-487: The votes of students and staff are weighted equally. The core criticism of direct democracy coincides with democracy's overall criticism. Critics have historically expressed doubts of the populace's capacity of participation, deeming its advocates utopian. Despite this, instances of direct democracy - such as the Petrograd Soviet - lack documented incidents involving participation deficits or mobocracy . From

5925-678: The votes, resort can be made to the two-round system or instant-runoff voting , which is also called IRV and PV. In 2018 the Irish Citizens' Assembly considered the conduct of future referendums in Ireland , with 76 of the members in favour of allowing more than two options, and 52% favouring preferential voting in such cases. Other people regard a non-majoritarian methodology like the Modified Borda Count (MBC) as more inclusive and more accurate. Swiss referendums offer

6004-414: The voting public a veto on laws adopted by the elected legislature, as in Switzerland . A citizen-initiated referendum, also called an initiative , empowers members of the general public to propose, by petition, specific statutory measures or constitutional reforms to the government and, as with other referendums, the vote may be binding or simply advisory. Initiatives may be direct or indirect: with

6083-413: Was direct not only in the sense that the assembled people made decisions, but also in the sense that the people – through the assembly, boulê, and law courts – controlled the entire political process, and a large proportion of citizens were involved constantly in public affairs. Most modern democracies, being representative, not direct, do not resemble the Athenian system. Moreover, the Athenian democracy

6162-473: Was exclusive. For example, in Athens in the middle of the 4th century there were about 100,000 citizens (Athenian citizenship was limited to men and women whose parents had also been Athenian citizens), about 10,000 metoikoi, or “resident foreigners,” and 150,000 slaves. Out of all those people, only male citizens who were older than 18 were a part of the demos, meaning only about 40,000 people could participate in

6241-562: Was restored under Eucleides ; the most detailed accounts are of this 4th-century modification rather than of the Periclean system. It was suppressed by the Macedonians in 322 BC. The Athenian institutions were later revived, but the extent to which they were a real democracy is debatable. Sociologist Max Weber believed that every mass democracy went in a Caesarist direction. Professor of law Gerhard Casper writes, "Weber employed

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