Direct democracy

For other uses, seeDirect democracy (disambiguation).

ALandsgemeinde,"cantonal assembly", in thecanton of Glaruson 7 May 2006,Switzerland.Landsgemeindenare public voting gatherings, and are one of the oldest examples of direct democracy.

Direct democracyorpure democracyis a form ofdemocracyin which theelectoratedecides on policyinitiativeswithoutelected representativesas proxies. This differs from the majority of currently established democracies, which arerepresentative 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 areJean-Jacques Rousseau,John Stuart Mill,andG.D.H. Cole.

Overview

In direct democracy the people decide on policies without any intermediary or representative, whereas in arepresentative democracypeople vote for representatives who then enact policy initiatives.Depending on the particular system in use, direct democracy might entail passing executive decisions, the use ofsortition,makinglaws,directly electing or dismissing officials, and conductingtrials.Two leading forms of direct democracy areparticipatory democracyanddeliberative democracy.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,andrecall.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 a binding popular vote. This is the most common form of direct legislation. Apopular referendumempowers 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 the voting public avetoon laws adopted by the elected legislature, as inSwitzerland.

A citizen-initiated referendum, also called aninitiative,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 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 a form of indirect initiative.

Adeliberative referendumis 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 tomajority rulewhile optional referendums andpopular initiativescorrespond toconsensus democracy(e.g. Switzerland).

History

See also:History of democracy

Antiquity

One strand of thought sees direct democracy as common and widespread in pre-state societies.

The earliest well-documented direct democracy is said to be theAthenian democracyof the 5th century BC. The main bodies in the Athenian democracy were theassembly,composed of male citizens; theboulê,composed of 500 citizens; and the law courts, composed of a massive number of jurors chosen by lot, with no judges. AncientAtticahad 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 wasdirectnot 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 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 the democratic process.

Also relevant to the history of direct democracy is the history ofAncient Rome,specifically during theRoman Republic,traditionally founded around 509 BC.Rome displayed many aspects of democracy, both direct and indirect, from the era ofRoman monarchyall the way to the collapse of theRoman Empire.While the Roman senate was the main body with historical longevity, lasting from the Roman kingdom until after the collapse of theWestern Roman Empirein 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 Romanpopular assemblies,where the people organized intocenturiaeor intotribes– depending on 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 thelex Titia,passed on 27 November 43 BC, which eliminated many oversight provisions.

Modern era

Modern-era citizen-lawmaking occurs in the cantons ofSwitzerlandfrom the 13th century. In 1847 the Swiss added the "statute referendum" to their national constitution. 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 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 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 theInternetand other communications technologies are dealt with in the article one-democracyand below under the headingElectronic direct democracy.More concisely, the concept ofopen-source governanceapplies principles of thefree software movementto the governance of people, allowing the entire populace to participate in government directly, as much or as little as they please.

Examples

Further information:Referendums by country

Early Athens

Main article:Athenian democracy

Athenian democracy developed in theGreekcity-stateofAthens,comprising the city of Athens and the surrounding territory ofAttica,around 600 BC. Athens was one of thefirst 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 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. Thepublic opinionof voters was influenced by thepolitical satireof thecomic poetsin thetheatres.

Solon(594 BC),Cleisthenes(508–507 BCE), andEphialtes(462 BC) all contributed to 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 ofPeisistratus,whereas Ephialtes revised Cleisthenes' constitution relatively peacefully. Hipparchus,the brother of the tyrantHippias,was killed byHarmodius and Aristogeiton,who were subsequently honored by the Athenians for their alleged restoration of Athenian freedom.

The greatest and longest-lasting democratic leader wasPericles;after his death, Athenian democracy was twice briefly interrupted by an oligarchic revolution towards the end of thePeloponnesian War.It was modified somewhat after it was restored underEucleides;the most detailed accounts are of this 4th-century modification rather than of the Periclean system. It was suppressed by theMacedoniansin 322 BC. The Athenian institutions were later revived, but the extent to which they were a real democracy is debatable.

SociologistMax Weberbelieved that everymass democracywent in aCaesaristdirection. Professor of law Gerhard Casper writes, "Weber employed the term to stress,inter alia,theplebiscitarycharacter of elections, disdain for parliament, the non-toleration of autonomous powers within the government and a failure to attract or suffer independent political minds. "

Liechtenstein

Despite being a monarchy, direct democracy is considered to be an engrained element ofLiechtensteiner politics.

If called for by at least 1,000 citizens, a referendum on any law can be initiated. Referendums can suspendparliamentor change theconstitution,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.

Switzerland

InSwitzerland,with no need to register, every citizen receives theballot papersand information brochure for each vote and election and can return it by post. Switzerland has various directly democratic instruments; votes are organized about four times a year. Here, the papers received by every citizen ofBernein November 2008 about five national, two cantonal, four municipal referendums, and two elections (government and parliament of the City of Berne) of 23 competing parties to take care of at the same time.

Main articles:Politics of SwitzerlandandVoting in Switzerland

Further information:LandsgemeindeandFederal popular initiative

The pure form of direct democracy exists only in theSwisscantonsofAppenzell InnerrhodenandGlarus.TheSwiss Confederationis a semi-direct democracy (representative democracy with strong instruments of direct democracy).The nature of direct democracy in Switzerland is fundamentally complemented by its federal governmental structures (inGermanalso called theSubsidiaritätsprinzip).

Most western countries have representative systems.Switzerlandis a rare example of a country with instruments of direct democracy (at the levels of the municipalities,cantons,andfederal state). Citizens have more power than in a representative democracy. On any political level citizens can propose changes to the constitution (popular initiative) or ask for anoptional referendumto be held on any law voted by thefederal,cantonalparliament and/ormunicipallegislative body.

The list formandatoryor 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 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 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.

InSwitzerland,simple majorities are sufficient at the municipal andcantonallevel, at the federal leveldouble majoritiesare required on constitutional issues.

A double majority requires approval by 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), 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 theUnited States Congress,in which House votes were to represent the people and Senate votes were to represent thestates.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 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 amulti-level governancecontext, becomes increasingly interesting for scholars ofEuropean Unionintegration.

United States

Main articles:History of direct democracy in the United StatesandInitiatives and referendums in the United States

In theNew Englandregion of the United States,townsin states such asVermontdecide local affairs through the direct democratic process of thetown 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 theUnited States Constitutionenvisioned for the nation. They saw a danger intyranny of the majority.As a result, they advocated arepresentative democracyin the form of a constitutional republic over a direct democracy. For example,James Madison,inFederalist 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 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 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 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 theDeclaration 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 Hamiltonwas 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 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 federalcase 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 firstUnited States Supreme Courtruling in favor of the citizen lawmaking was inPacific States Telephone and Telegraph Company v. Oregon,223 U.S. 118 in 1912 (Zimmerman, December 1999).PresidentTheodore Roosevelt,in his "Charter of Democracy" speech to theOhio 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 the people rule include:

• Referralsby the legislature to the people of "proposed constitutional amendments" (constitutionally used in 49 states, excepting onlyDelaware– Initiative & Referendum Institute, 2004).
• Referralsby the legislature to the people of "proposed statute laws" (constitutionally used in all 50 states – Initiative & Referendum Institute, 2004).
• Constitutional amendment initiativeis a constitutionally defined petition process of "proposed constitutional law", which, if successful, results in its provisions being written directly into the state's constitution. Since constitutional law cannot be altered by state legislatures, this direct democracy component gives the people an automatic superiority and sovereignty, over representative government (Magelby, 1984). It is utilized at the state level in nineteen states:Arizona,Arkansas,California,Colorado,Florida,Illinois,Louisiana,Massachusetts,Michigan,Mississippi,Missouri,Montana,Nebraska,Nevada,North Dakota,Ohio,Oklahoma,OregonandSouth Dakota(Cronin, 1989). Among these states, there are three main types of the constitutional amendment initiative, with different degrees of involvement of the state legislature distinguishing between the types (Zimmerman, December 1999).
• Statute law initiativeis a constitutionally defined, citizen-initiated petition process of "proposed statute law", which, if successful, results in law being written directly into the state's statutes. The statute initiative is used at the state level in twenty-one states:Alaska,Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado,Idaho,Maine,Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota,Utah,WashingtonandWyoming(Cronin, 1989). In Utah, there is no constitutional provision for citizen lawmaking. All of Utah's I&R law is in the state statutes (Zimmerman, December 1999). In most states, there is no special protection for citizen-made statutes; the legislature can begin to amend them immediately.
• Statute law referendumis a constitutionally defined, citizen-initiated petition process of the "proposed veto of all or part of a legislature-made law", which, if successful, repeals the standing law. It is used at the state level in twenty-four states: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho,Kentucky,Maine,Maryland,Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada,New Mexico,North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming (Cronin, 1989).
• Therecall electionis a citizen-initiated process which, if successful, removes an elected official from office and replaces him or her. The first recall device in the United States was adopted inLos Angelesin 1903. Typically, the process involves the collection of citizen petitions for the recall of an elected official; if a sufficient number of valid signatures are collected and verified, a recall election is triggered. There have been four gubernatorial recall elections in U.S. history (two of which resulted in the recall of the governor) and 38 recall elections for state legislators (55% of which succeeded). Nineteen states and theDistrict of Columbiahave a recall function for state officials. Additional states have recall functions for local jurisdictions. Some states require specific grounds for a recall petition campaign.
• Statute law affirmationis available in Nevada. It allows the voters to collect signatures to place on the ballot a question asking the state citizens to affirm a standing state law. Should the law get affirmed by a majority of state citizens, the state legislature will be barred from ever amending the law, and it can be amended or repealed only if approved by a majority of state citizens in a direct vote.

Direct democracy by country

Main article:Referendums by country

The strength of direct democracy in individual countries can be quantitatively compared by the Citizen-initiated component of direct popular vote index inV-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.

Country	Citizen-initiated component of direct popular vote index for 2021
Albania	0.077
Bolivia	0.078
Bulgaria	0.292
Cape Verde	0.072
Colombia	0.041
Costa Rica	0.087
Croatia	0.262
Ecuador	0.073
Georgia	0.054
Hungary	0.242
Italy	0.409
Kazakhstan	0.032
Kenya	0.042
Kyrgyzstan	0.033
Latvia	0.155
Lithuania	0.191
Luxembourg	0.038
Malta	0.374
Mexico	0.091
Moldova	0.033
Montenegro	0.048
New Zealand	0.178
North Macedonia	0.133
Peru	0.249
Philippines	0.094
Romania	0.416
Serbia	0.099
Slovakia	0.334
Slovenia	0.444
Switzerland	0.841
Taiwan	0.445
Togo	0.037
Uganda	0.048
Ukraine	0.048
Uruguay	0.766

Democratic reform trilemma

Democratic theorists have identified atrilemmadue 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 areparticipation– 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; andequality– all members of the population on whose behalf decisions are taken have an equal chance of having their views taken into account.Empirical evidencefrom 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, eithereveryoneneeds to be involved or there needs to be a representative random sample of people chosen to take part in the discussion. In the definition used by scholars such asJames Fishkin,deliberative democracyis 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 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 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.

Relation to other movements

Practicing direct democracy – voting on Nuit Debout, Place de la République, Paris

For a more comprehensive list, seeList of direct democracy parties.

In schools

Main article:Democratic school

Democratic schoolsmodeled onSummerhill Schoolresolve conflicts and make school policy decisions through full school meetings in which the votes of students and staff are weighted equally.

Criticism

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 thePetrograd Soviet- lack documented incidents involving participation deficits ormobocracy.

From theliberal democraticstandpoint, restraining popular influence stonewalls thestate of nature,protectingproperty rights.Adversaries of greater democratization cast doubt onhuman nature,painting a narrative of misinformation and impulsivity.MAREZ,utilizingsortition,had managed itself successfully prior to being overrun by drug cartels, as didFEJUVEremaining tranquil with self-managed organizations.

AlthoughRevolutionary Cataloniahad demonstrated the feasibility of non-liberal democracy, critics have continued to deride its presumed mobocratic nature, although there are no recorded instances oftyranny of the majority.It is of note that direct democracy's critics have emerged from Hobbesian and liberal philosophy.

See also

• Anarcho-communism
• Citizens' assembly
• Deliberative democracy
• Libertarian socialism
• Liquid democracy
• Participatory democracy
• Participatory economics
• Populism
• Sociocracy
• Sortition
• Workers' councils

Bibliography

• Cary, M.;Scullard, H. H.(1967).A History Of Rome: Down To The Reign Of Constantine(2nd ed.). New York: St. Martin's Press.
• Benedikter, Thomas E. (2021).When Citizens Decide by Themselves: An Introduction to Direct Democracy.Bozen: POLITiS.
• Cronin, Thomas E. (1989).Direct Democracy: The Politics of Initiative, Referendum and Recall.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
• Elster, Jon(1998)."Introduction".In Elster, Jon (ed.).Deliberative Democracy.Cambridge Studies in the Theory of Democracy.Cambridge University Press.doi:10.1017/CBO9781139175005.ISBN9780521592963.Archived fromthe originalon 2016-03-28.Retrieved2014-04-09.
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• Golay, Vincent (2008).Swiss Political Institutions.Illustrated by Mix & Remix. Le Mont-sur-Lausanne: Éditions loisirs et pédagogie.ISBN9782606012953.
• Gutmann, Amy;Thompson, Dennis F.(2004).Why Deliberative Democracy?.Princeton: Princeton University Press.ISBN9780691120188.Retrieved8 April2014.
• Archived atGhostarchiveand theWayback Machine:Hirschbühl, Tina (2011a),The Swiss Government Report 1,Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA, Presence Switzerland – via YouTube
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• Archived atGhostarchiveand theWayback Machine:Hirschbühl, Tina (2011c),How Direct Democracy Works In Switzerland – Report 3,Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA, Presence Switzerland – via YouTube
• Archived atGhostarchiveand theWayback Machine:Hirschbühl, Tina (2011d),How People in Switzerland Vote – Report 4,Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA, Presence Switzerland – via YouTube
• Archived atGhostarchiveand theWayback Machine:Hirschbühl, Tina (2011e),Switzerland & the EU: The Bilateral Agreements – Report 5,Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA, Presence Switzerland – via YouTube
• Kobach, Kris W. (1993).The Referendum: Direct Democracy In Switzerland.Dartmouth Publishing Company.ISBN9781855213975.
• Marabello, Thomas Quinn. (2023) "The Origins of Democracy in Switzerland",Swiss American Historical Society Review,Vol. 59: No. 1, Available at:https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sahs_review/vol59/iss1/4
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• Zagarri, Rosemarie (2010).The Politics of Size: Representation in the United States, 1776–1850.Cornell University.ISBN9780801476396.

Further reading

• Arnon, Harel (January 2008). "A Theory of Direct Legislation" (LFB Scholarly)
• Cronin, Thomas E. (1989).Direct Democracy: The Politics Of Initiative, Referendum, And Recall.Harvard University Press.
• De Vos et al (2014) South African Constitutional Law – In Context: Oxford University Press
• Finley, M.I. (1973).Democracy Ancient And Modern.Rutgers University Press.
• Fotopoulos, Takis,Towards an Inclusive Democracy: The Crisis of the Growth Economy and the Need for a New Liberatory Project(London & NY: Cassell, 1997).
• Fotopoulos, Takis,The Multidimensional Crisis andInclusive Democracy.(Athens: Gordios, 2005). (English translationof the book with the same title published in Greek).
• Fotopoulos, Takis,"Liberal and Socialist 'Democracies' versus Inclusive Democracy",The International Journal of INCLUSIVE DEMOCRACY,vol.2, no.2, (January 2006).
• Fuller, Roslyn, 2015, "Beasts and Gods: How Democracy Changed Its Meaning and Lost its Purpose." Zed Books.
• Gerber, Elisabeth R. (1999).The Populist Paradox: Interest Group Influence And The Promise Of Direct Legislation.Princeton University Press.
• Hansen, Mogens Herman(1999).The Athenian Democracy in the Age of Demosthenes: Structure, Principles and Ideology.University of Oklahoma, Norman (orig. 1991).
• Köchler, Hans(1995).A Theoretical Examination of the Dichotomy between Democratic Constitutions and Political Reality.University Center Luxemburg.
• Magleby, David B. (1984).Direct Legislation: Voting on Ballot Propositions in The United States.Johns Hopkins University Press.
• Matsusaka, John G. (2004). For the Many or the Few: The Initiative, Public Policy, and American Democracy, Chicago Press.
• Matsusaka, John G. (2020). Let The People Rule: How Direct Democracy Can Meet the Populist Challenge, Princeton University Press.
• National Conference of State Legislatures (2004). "Recall of State Officials".
• Nissani, M., (2023), "Eight Billion Cheers for Direct Democracy: Direct Democracy is Humankind’s Last, Best, and Only Hope." Dying of the Light Press.https:// researchgate.net/publication/367379858_Eight_Billion_Cheers_for_Direct_Democracy_Direct_Democracy_is_Humanity's_Last_Best_and_Only_Hope/references.E-book free download.
• Orr Akivae-books, Free download: Politics without politicians – Big Business, Big Government or Direct Democracy.
• Pimbert, Michel (2010). Reclaiming citizenship: empowering civil society in policy-making. In: Towards Food Sovereignty.http://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/G02612.pdf?e-book. Free download.
• Polybius(c.150 BC).The Histories.Oxford University, The Great Histories Series, Ed., Hugh R. Trevor-Roper, and E. Badian. Translated by Mortimer Chambers. Washington Square Press, Inc (1966).
• Reich, Johannes (5 June 2008)."An Interactional Model of Direct Democracy - Lessons from the Swiss Experience"(PDF).doi:10.2139/ssrn.1154019.SSRN1154019.
• Serdült, Uwe (2014) Referendums in Switzerland, in Qvortrup, Matt (Ed.) Referendums Around the World: The Continued Growth of Direct Democracy. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 65–121.
• Verhulst Jos en Nijeboer ArjenDirect Democracye-book in 8 languages. Free download.
• Zimmerman, Joseph F. (March 1999).The New England Town Meeting: Democracy In ActionArchived2011-11-23 at theWayback Machine.Praeger Publishers.
• Zimmerman, Joseph F. (December 1999).The Initiative: Citizen Law-Making.Praeger Publishers.

External links

• INIREF Campaign for Direct Democracy GB
• "What are the main features of democracy"- yoopery