Direct Democracy

The national debates that accompany referendums in Malta are strongly shaped by the country’s enduring bipartisan political landscape.

Switzerland is often hailed as a model of direct democracy. But these processes may prove difficult to replicate elsewhere for many reasons.

Referendums in Romania have been instrumentalised by various political actors as strategies to increase legitimacy and popularity.

Designed to safeguard against a return of authoritarianism, the Italian constitutional framework leaves little space for direct democracy – yet referendums are not uncommon in the country.

Hannah Arendt’s work can shed light on the reinvigoration of democracy at a time of corroded trust in political institutions, an emboldened far right, and ecological breakdown.

An interview with Green Party of England & Wales co-leader & MP Caroline Lucas.

Agora Voting is an innovative project using free software to establish social citizen networks for the development of a system for secure electronic voting. Spanish Green party Equo collaborated on this project to carry out Spain’s first real experiment with direct democracy.

In an unprecedented step towards direct democracy, Finland adopted a national Citizens’ Initiative law in March 2012. Although it has succeeded in opening debates in the national parliament on a number of issues, serious questions remain over whether citizens really have the power to effect change through the tool.

Citizens are demanding more direct democracy, something that the political parties are resisting. However the economic crisis has changed everything and made the status quo no longer sustainable. In its wake, a number of new movements are challenging how political decisions are being made.