There are many key features of Direct Democracy that include public involvement in Politics to heightened control in government and more acceptance towards government decisions. Direct Democracy concerns people first hand and needs the involvement of many many individuals within communities and needs constant involvement to ensure its success for everyone. Countries such as Switzerland and Places like New England, harbour and use elements of Direct Democracy however no country adopts it individually as a full form of democracy.
Direct democracy is a descendant of Ancient Greece where it was first used in the 5th century, theorists such as Jean Jacques Rousseau believed in direct democracy and its successes when in use to which he argued that the public is not truly free without the opportunity to vote on every issue through a direct form of democracy. This is because in a representative democracy elites often control the positions of power within political parties.
Direct democracy- key feature 1!
There are many advantages of direct democracy. One could be the opportunity to have heightened control meaning people can make decisions for themselves. This means that people can take control of their own government and make decisions that can shape their society and culture to suit themselves which is usually based on shared interests and democratic issues. This can also allow for modern and new age technologies to be introduced to fulfil direct voting needs such as an e-voting system.
An example of this type of democracy is the swiss cantons version which allows people to make direct political decisions by participating in e-voting and gathering in squares and centres to vote on matters. This allows for people who want to be involved in the decision making process to make democratic decisions on behalf of the country and themselves furthermore this means people are much more satisfied with their government and democratic rights as there is no difference between people and government.
However this type of government is not perfect and it is seen as very impractical especially when it deals with large groups and populations of people. This system is seen to be almost impossible with populations of over 45 million. This means that it is almost impossible to do in large countries and if it was possible there could be a low turnout at direct referendums or elections meaning the only form of democracy suited would be representative democracy. Theorists such as Robert Dahl said that ” direct democracy was not fair, as groups of elites are more likely to form in a direct democracy much like in Athens Greece.
This references how even with a population of over 250,000 people a group of around 40,000 mainly men participated in direct democracy. Although it heights control it can lack public engagement and is extremely difficult to work with in largely populated countries. Overall there are many advantages to direct democracy and can help to heighten control as there are more people that can be involved in making political decisions however is impractical to many many countries in the world.
Direct democracy- key feature 2!
There are other advantages to direct democracy. Another advantage of direct democracy can be that direct democracy creates better informed and politically literate citizens. Thus meaning the opportunity and running of government is to a much higher standard, furthermore this allows for people to be a more lively society, this also means people can engage in discussion and be involved in decisions much more than usual with better satisfaction with democratic decisions.
An example of this can be referendums, these can be seen across the globe, if we look at Scotland and the United Kingdom we can see the 2014 Scottish independence with a turnout of nearly 90% of the population voting and the Brexit referendum in 2016 which saw the public vote for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union by the 31st December 2020.
Additionally this means that society as a whole wants to be better educated and knowledgeable about things as they can directly be involved in the decision making process for their country thus meaning people become better educated naturally and make better rounded and valuable citizens.
On the contrary to his citizens can develop ‘voter fatigue’ due to the fact they are constantly involved in decision making and referendums, this can result in low voter turnouts and a lack of involvement because people may want the decision making to be made on their behalf. For example participation levels during a General election usually sit at around 65% and local council elections 50% and MEP elections 30% or less showing that people can become disengaged and unhappy with decisions.
This shows us that people could lose interest and involvement extremely quickly and lack political interest and involvement resulting in the government and/or country not making true representative decisions on behalf of the public.
Overall in evaluation this system of democracy can be rewarding and informative but comes with great deals of problems such as keeping people involved and presented especially in decision making in government and what happens to people. Uninterested or unable to participate can cause problems possibly to the illiterate or people who may not understand the system and how to get involved fully within government affairs which can be expressed through critic political theorist Socrates who said that the majority of the people, because they were by and large ignorant and unskilled, would always get it wrong.
Direct democracy- key feature 3!
A final key feature of direct democracy is ensuring legitimacy – people are more likely to accept decisions that they have made themselves. This means that there is more chance for legitimacy within the government meaning that people are far more satisfied at the running of government etc, and are more likely to be considerate about their actions furthermore this would open up more opportunities to take part in government and people can directly choose who they want to govern them.
An example of this could be the fact that Switzerland’s President can only serve one year without reelection immediately meaning authority and tasks are more likely to be completed far more quickly due to the fact there is only a short amount of time as head of office.
Thus meaning people are more satisfied and accept the likelihood of outcomes in government which means that people can create a legitimate form of government which gives authority due to the fact the people have directly chosen who they want to govern them but also are involved in deciding that choice.
On the other hand, because of constant involvement in Politics it can create decisions and laws which do not always represent the public’s full opinion, this can be seen by the fact Switzerland can vote to change parts of the constitution such as banning the construction of religious building for muslims this is written within the constitution and would take a large amount of time to change that law.
This shows us that although the government can be seen as possessing more legitimacy and authority that decisions which especially in Switzerland can be changed with 50,000 to 100,000 signatures on a petition to remove a law or decision this means that government and public decisions can be changed and altered even after months of preparation and discussion resulting in real decision making to lack.
In evaluation it is clear that legitimacy is actually quite strong when it comes to direct democracy and can offer great deals of accomplishment to people; however in some occasions this can fray and result in political decisions being made to lack, possibly making the government lack real authority over decisions.
For more on politics, click on this link here!
For more on direct democracy, click here!
