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Topic: Direct democracy

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	Free book: Beyond Plutocracy - Direct Democracy for America, Home/Table of Contents
		But the usually proposed alternative, unlimited majority-rule direct democracy, were it ever tried, would only result in “the tyranny of democracy,” the political, economic, religious, and behavioral tyranny of the simple majority over the rest of the populace.
		Unlike the winner-take-all, majority-rule democracy of old in which the simple majority vote wins and all others lose, the consensus democracy described here and practiced by the electorate in the demos has no winners and losers but results in the consensus of the entire electorate, a moderate “golden mean” that avoids all extremes.
		The president and all senators are elected by direct popular vote from the nation at-large, and each state’s quota of representatives is elected from the state at-large.
	www.beyondplutocracy.com (7534 words)

	1 Emergent Democracy
		By direct democracy, we don’t mean simple majority rule, but a system that evolves away from the broadcast style of managed consensus to a democratic style of collective consensus derived from “many-to-many” conversations.
		Democracy is itself an incomplete and emergent political system, and must, by its nature, adapt to new ideas and evolving social standards.
		Representative democracy allows leaders to specialize and focus on the complex issues of governance, which an uneducated and uninterested general population could not be expected to grasp.
	joi.ito.com /static/emergentdemocracy.html (0 words)

	directopedia : Directory : Society : Politics : Democracy
		Democracy is often implemented as a form of government in which policy is decided by the preference of the real majority (as opposed to a partial or relative majority of the demos/citizens) in a decision-making process, usually elections or referenda, open to all or most citizens.
		In modern democracies, the territory is the nation-state, and since this corresponds (in theory) with the homeland of the nation, the demos and the reach of the democratic process neatly coincide.
		Liberal democracy is, strictly speaking, a form of representative democracy where the political power of the government is moderated by a constitution which protects the rights and freedoms of individuals and minorities (also called constitutional liberalism).
	www.directopedia.org /directory/Society-Politics/Democracy.shtml (7240 words)

	Takis Fotopoulos - What is Inclusive Democracy (Site not responding. Last check: )
		Inclusive democracy is a new conception of democracy, which, using as a starting point the classical definition of it, expresses democracy in terms of direct political democracy, economic democracy (beyond the confines of the market economy and state planning), as well as democracy in the social realm and ecological democracy.
		A fruitful way to define inclusive democracy may be to distinguish between the two main societal realms, the public and the private, to which we may add an "ecological realm", defined as the sphere of the relations between the natural and the social worlds.
		In this sense, economic democracy is the counterpart, as well as the foundation, of direct democracy and of an inclusive democracy in general.
	www.inclusivedemocracy.org /fotopoulos/brincl/inclusive_entry.htm (3857 words)

	International IDEA \| Direct Democracy
		The use of direct democracy as a means of resolving political issues, is assuming greater importance throughout the world.
		International IDEA and its partners are conducting a global survey on direct democracy to collect and analyse data on the laws and regulations governing the practice of direct democracy instruments worldwide and to develop a deeper understanding of the impact of direct democracy and its relationship to existing democratic institutions and processes.
		International IDEA intends to publish a Handbook on direct democracy by the end of 2007, based on the knowledge developed as a result of its research and analysis.
	www.idea.int /elections/dd (0 words)

	Direct Democracy
		Direct democracy would enable voters to be governed by the laws they wanted rather than by laws which only the politicians wanted.
		Direct democracy can be likened to a pressure cooker: before the steam pressure builds to the danger point, the release valve pops up and the pressure is released.
		Direct democracy is especially popular in the State of California, where it has been part of the political scene since 1911.
	www3.sympatico.ca /n.rieck/docs/direct_democracy.html (3874 words)

	Anarchism In Action: Direct Democracy
		Direct democracy is based on the realistic notion that 'people know best how to look after their own situation'.
		Literal direct democracy (as opposed to consensus, which is sometimes also referred to as direct democracy) is a bottom up method of decision making that uses voting as the means to arrive at decisions.
		Direct democracy on a small scale can be as simple as a group of people voting by a raise of hands or the marking of ballots to arrive at a decision.
	members.cox.net /negatyve/dec_directdemocracy.html (2022 words)

	Direct Democracy by Dr Peter Singer (1973)
		Democracy and Disobedience began life as his thesis, submitted to the University of Oxford in 1971 in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy.
		Anarchists would extend this philosophical definition of direct democracy to a democracy of the workplace (workers councils or anarcho-syndicalism are two examples) and democracy of the neighborhood (town meetings or libertarian municipalism).
		Direct democracy can claim to be the basic form of democracy, both historically and conceptually.
	www.takver.com /history/elections/singer_direct.htm (769 words)

	Direct Democracy Center Pg.3
		Direct democracy should be established with secure interactive voting networks connected to voter's homes.
		Because of democracy created by the Internet, the idea of direct democracy is inevitable here in the United States and other parts of the world.
		In Greece, the birthplace of democracy, the movement to establish direct democracy is a significant, increasing effort by the people.
	www.realdemocracy.com /page3.htm (1245 words)

	What Is Democracy? - Defining Democracy
		Democracy may be a word familiar to most, but it is a concept still misunderstood and misused in a time when totalitarian regimes and military dictatorships alike have attempted to claim popular support by pinning democratic labels upon themselves.
		In the dictionary definition, democracy "is government by the people in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system." In the phrase of Abraham Lincoln, democracy is a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people."
		Democracy is indeed a set of ideas and principles about freedom, but it also consists of a set of practices and procedures that have been molded through a long, often tortuous history.
	usinfo.state.gov /products/pubs/whatsdem/whatdm2.htm (1200 words)

	Chapter 13-Direct Political Democracy (Site not responding. Last check: )
		So, democracy has nothing to do with the present dominant liberal conception of it, nor with the various conceptions of the ideal society which are grounded on religion, spiritualism, or irrational beliefs and dogmas.
		Political, economic and democracy in the social realm may be defined, briefly, as the institutional framework that aims at the equal distribution of political, economic and social power respectively, in other words, as the system which aims at the effective elimination of the domination of human being over human being.
		In the process, he attacks what he calls the “fetish” of direct democracy on the usual grounds of scale (ignoring the proposals of confederalists) and the negative experience of the student movement (ignoring the fact that democracy is not just a procedure but a regime, a form of social organisation).
	www.inclusivedemocracy.org /journal/ss/ch13.htm (3629 words)

	Direct Democracy in Switzerland \| Home (Site not responding. Last check: )
		Direct democracy is a well established part of the Swiss political system.
		The impact of direct democracy goes further than the economy and politics.
		Six experts are interviewed on the subject of "direct democracy".
	www.swissworld.org /dvd_rom/eng/direct_democracy_2004/index.html (326 words)

	Direct Democracy in Switzerland
		Switzerland's direct democracy--in which the people, by initiative and referendum, wind up voting directly on a large number of policies that affect their lives--is sufficiently different that it might be called, as the former foreign editor of The Economist, Brian Beedham, once suggested, a “different system” altogether.
		Therein, Fossedal suggests a message which crescendos in the fifth and concluding part of his study: the Swiss political reality of democracy suggests what are dormant possibilities, and indeed promises in the democracies of other nations.
		In labelling the latter as the less-than-complete form of direct democracy procedure, I wish to underscore the fact that, formally, in all Referenda, the representative legislatures are the crafters and thus the managers of that which the people directly vote on.
	ni4d.us /library/fossedal_direct_democracy_in_switzerland.htm (1572 words)

	Initiative, Referendum, and Recall: “Direct Democracy” (Site not responding. Last check: )
		None of these forms of direct democracy exists in the US federal constitution although popular opinion polls in California show that there is at least some interest in expanding the Initiative process to the federal level.
		The Swiss were an early adopter of direct democracy by adding the referendum process to their Constitution in 1847 and the initiative process in 1891.
		Clearly while direct democracy sounds good in practice there are criticisms, some of which have at least some criticisms.
	www.extempprep.org /directdemocracy.html (1595 words)

	LATIN AMERICA: Direct Democracy - Progress and Pitfalls
		The conference was convened by the intergovernmental International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), based in Sweden, as part of the preparations for the first World Conference on Direct Democracy, to be held in Lucerne, Switzerland in May 2008.
		Regional experience -- or lack thereof -- with mechanisms of direct democracy are evidence of a reality which is in general very different to that of Switzerland, where these mechanisms have a tradition of over a century of efficient practice, Swiss ambassador to Argentina Daniel von Muralt said at the opening of the conference.
		A paper presented at the conference by Lissidini, titled "Direct Democracy in Latin America: Between Participation and Delegation", said that participatory mechanisms — which were already in place in Colombia, Chile and Uruguay -- have become widespread throughout the region in the last 15 years, but have emerged in very different political contexts.
	www.ipsnews.net /news.asp?idnews=36967 (0 words)

	Direct Democracy in Switzerland -- Transaction Publishers
		In Direct Democracy in Switzerland, a great nation has received the telling in history and the placement in history it deserves.
		His account of full democracy, the way the Swiss do it, combines a detailed description of Switzerland's top-to-bottom machinery of referendums and initiatives with a vivid picture of how it feels to live in a place where democracy, at last, really does mean government by the people.
		Direct Democracy in Switzerland should be read by all Americans who want to understand how Switzerland is conducted by the interests and aspirations of its citizens and its 26 cantons, and by all Swiss who want to know how our country is seen from abroad.
	www.adti.net /ddis/direct_democracy_review2.html (1009 words)

	Open Directory - Society: Politics: Democracy: Direct Democracy
		Democracy and the personal representative - A proposal to reform Canadian government institutions, making all legislation subject to a Direct Democratic Parliament of 100 percent of the people of Canada aged over 18 who choose to participate.
		Direct Democracy Campaign (DDC) - Campaigning for government by referendum in the UK and elsewhere in the world.
		Direct Democracy League (DDL) - Advocates national and state level constitutional renewal in the United States to meld direct democracy institutions with representative institutions.
	www.dmoz.org /Society/Politics/Democracy/Direct_Democracy (618 words)

	Aki Orr, Direct Democracy Manifesto (Site not responding. Last check: )
		Democracy ("Demos" - ordinary people, "Cratia" - ruling system) was invented in Athens some 2500 years ago.
		This is preferable to Parliamentary Democracy where neither the minority nor the majority are free as representatives make all political decisions for them.
		Direct Democracy will stimulate people's involvement in their community and society.
	ao.com.au /ddf/aki_orr_manifesto.htm (3303 words)

	Direct Democracy League
		Our eight direct democracy (DD) governance components, with their core of citizen lawmaking, are legal fact in the US. They are derived from the seven extraordinary governance rights given in the Declaration Of Independence. All became legal realities in various states during the Reform Era's democracy increases, 1898-1918. See the essay, "Executive Summary of Direct Democracy 4.0"
		The ordinary people were demanding the direct democracy rights that they felt were promised to them in the DOI -- rights for which they'd risked everything in the War for Independence.
		All talk of direct democracy, of sharing power with ordinary Americans, was ended -- until the accumulation of wealth that sprang from the Civil War into the Gilded Age, on into unconscionable citizen abuses, and on into the citizen backlash known as the 'Reform Era'.
	www.ddleague-usa.net (0 words)

	BBC - Action Network - Direct democracy
		Direct democracy is a way of involving the public in government legislation, typically through referendums.
		The dangers of direct democracy are voter fatigue, apathy and incoherent policies such as a reduction in taxes and an increase in spending on services.
		The purpose is to fight for freedom and democracy in Scotland to improve the standard of government.
	www.bbc.co.uk /dna/ican/C1718 (446 words)

	Lecture 6: The Athenian Origins of Direct Democracy (Site not responding. Last check: )
		The Spartan constitution was mixed, containing elements of monarchy, oligarchy and democracy.
		With such a personal interest in his democracy, Cleisthenes believed that there would be no citizens to conspire and attempt to abolish the system.
		Under Pericles, ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY came to mean the equality of justice and the equality of opportunity.
	www.historyguide.org /ancient/lecture6b.html (2724 words)

	Direct Democracy
		In general, the term "direct democracy" usually refers to citizens making policy and law decisions in person, without going through representatives and legislatures.
		More recent direct democracy proposals tend to focus on voting schemes (usually high tech) that would allow widespread, virtually continual voting by millions of citizens on whatever proposals surfaced.
		A third approach to direct democracy -- the "initiative process" adapted by a number of states -- allows anyone to propose a law which, if they can get enough of their fellow citizens to co-sponsor it (usually by signing petitions), can be voted on by the entire electorate in the next election.
	www.co-intelligence.org /CIPol_directdemocracy.html (0 words)

	Has Direct Democracy Gone Too Far?
		I understand the arguments in favor of these forms of direct democracy: they encourage citizen participation; they promote public debate; they allow citizens to take matters into their own hands when a legislature is too tangled up in politics or beholden to special interests.
		But advocates of direct democracy argue that special-interest lobbying and campaign contributions have stifled the ability of ordinary citizens to be heard.
		As David Broder wrote in his book, Democracy Derailed: “Though derived from a century-old idea favored by the Populist and Progressive movements as a weapon against special-interest influence, the initiative has become a favored tool of interest groups and millionaires with their own political and personal agendas.
	congress.indiana.edu /radio_commentaries/has_direct_democracy_gone_too_far.php (720 words)

	Direct Democracy Lost in Florida and Colorado (Site not responding. Last check: )
		The current effort by the Florida Hometown Democracy group to pass a ballot measure that would grant citizens much more control over land development in this sprawl-crazed state was a key factor in causing both the legislature and corporate interests to mount the Amendment 3 campaign.
		Indeed, proof that expanding direct democracy faces increasing opposition is that Colorado voters just rejected Petition Rights Amendment 38 by a vote of 69 percent to 31 percent.
		That corporate interests are working so hard to curb direct democracy should be all that is necessary to motivate Americans to expand it.
	www.populistamerica.com /direct_democracy_lost_in_florida_and_colorado (1041 words)

	Canadians for Direct Democracy
		Let's define Direct Democracy as the right of citizens to hold referendums on any issue -- as well as to veto legislation.
		In practice the details can and should be tailored to suit the needs of your own town or country.
		We say that Direct Democracy is to the 21st Century what the Magna Carta was to the 13th Century.
	www.npsnet.com /cdd (0 words)

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