This book challenges the idea that representative democracy is the pinnacle of political development.
The authors argue that when citizens can directly initiate and veto constitutional changes, democracy enters a new phase—direct democracy—as a distinct political system. Using original data and comparisons across six countries and fifteen U.S. states, the book shows that direct democracies foster legitimacy, stability, and engagement. Combining historical, institutional, and empirical insights, the book reframes democracy’s future and offers a timely guide for expanding citizen power in the twenty-first century.
This book is of key interest to scholars and students of democratic regimes, reform and democratisation, and more broadly, to comparative politics.
This book challenges the idea that representative democracy is the pinnacle of political development. It argues that when citizens can directly initiate and veto constitutional changes, democracy enters a new phase—direct democracy—as a distinct political system.
Introduction - Direct democracy: The new democratic frontier
1. What is
direct democracy?: Philosophical and theoretical foundations
2. Direct
democracy around the world
3. Direct democracy institutions and their
practices over the ages
4. Key issues put to the ballot
5. The effects of
direct democracy on civic engagement: Educated by initiative
6. How direct
democracy shapes domestic policies
7. The impact of direct democracy on
international cooperation: A death sentence for multilateralism?
8. Who
supports direct democracy?
9. Transforming contemporary representative
regimes into direct democracies. Conclusion
Clara Egger is Assistant Professor of Global Governance at the Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Raul Magni-Berton is Professor of Political Science at AnthropoLab-Ethics, Catholic University of Lille, France.
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