Citizenship and Contemporary Direct Democracy

Bibliographic Data

ID6554945
AuthorsDavid Altman (0000-0001-5985-6063)
Year2019
Pages276
Publication date2019-03-14
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
VenueCitizenship and Contemporary Direct Democracy (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherCambridge University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1017/9781108634397
ISBN9781108634397
Open LibraryOL27759525M
LanguageEN
Citations received24
References cited372

Standing out from all other books on direct democracy, Citizenship and Contemporary Direct Democracy connects the study of direct democracy to the broader field of comparative democratization and to an important strand in normative democratic theory. Analyzing the relationship between direct democracy and representative government, this book is organized around three main sections: the origins of contemporary direct democracy, its' functioning, and the ways to improve the use of direct democracy and its abuse. David Altman argues that citizen-initiated mechanisms of direct democracy constitute an important and viable way to reinvigorate current representative regimes by strengthening democracies' normative foundations--freedom and equity among citizens--which are particularly fragile in the context of unequal societies. Citizenship and Contemporary Direct Democracy demonstrates how citizen-initiated mechanisms of direct democracy empowers citizens, channels social demands, defuses violence, re-enchants citizens with politics, and breaks through some of the institutionalized barriers to accountability that arise in representative systems

Bürgerbegehren · Democracy · Direct democracy · Direkte Demokratie · Political participation · Politische Beteiligung · Repräsentation · Staatsbürger