"Direct Democracy is here to stay", suggests former Belgium Prime Minister Yves Leterme, now Secretary General of International IDEA, as this intergovernmental organization takes a growing global stake in assessing and supporting participatory democracy in practice.
"This year will be remembered as the year that put direct democracy back on the agenda", says Leterme, with reference to a series of popular votes on substantive issues across the globe in 2016. His organization, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) was founded in 1995 by 14 Member States from all continents. With headquarters in the Swedish capital of Stockholm (picture), International IDEA now consists of 30 Member States and is tasked with supporting democratic developments and practices across the globe.
A first move to address issues related to direct democratic procedures and practices came in 2006, when Switzerland became a member state. IDEA at that time started to gather data related to modern direct democracy instruments and also produced a handbook for practitioners. Additionally IDEA became a founding partner of the Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy, which held its sixth world conference last November in Donostia/San Sebastian.
This work broadened over the years, with the publication of the DD Handbook. And now International IDEA has started to give more space, attention and care in assessing and supporting participatory practices. At the 2016 International Day of Democracy in Stockholm, IDEA co-hosted an international seminar on democratic reforms, where Secretary General Yves Leterme announced a series of informational and educational initiatives by IDEA on direct democracy.
Based on 205 countries and territories across the globe, around 80 percent have legal provisions for at least one form of direct democracy at the national level
One such initiative is to use the in-house Database on Modern Direct Democracy more actively. This comprehensive database offers interesting insights into the extent of direct democracy provisions at the national level: "Based on 205 countries and territories across the globe, around 80 percent have legal provisions for at least one form of direct democracy at the national level", reports Abdurashid Solijonov, the responsible Programme Officer at IDEA for maintaining, updating and developing the database.
Also, International IDEA has begun addressing the political options and limits of modern direct democracy: In a recent briefing paper the organization offers the cases "for and against" direct democracy and summarizes that direct democracy is a useful tool for both understanding democratic will and for enhancing the accountability of elected representatives. It has become an increasingly essential component of effective democratic governance. At the same time, IDEA underlines challenges to the use of initiatives and referendums in other contexts, including autocratic regimes (using the example of the 2016 constitutional referendum in Thailand) and the top-down plebiscites (popular votes triggered by governments) to bypass elected legislatures.
While starting to overcome the traditional ambivalence of governmental organizations towards effective citizen participation in the decision-making process, IDEA´s assessments still offer some weak points. You can see this in how the organization has systematized the typology of dd-provisions. The assessment offer no proper differentiation between popular votes based on formal requirements (such as constitutional changes or citizens-triggered votes) or ad-hoc votes triggered by governments or presidents (plebiscites). At some point it will be necessary to update and upgrade the basic typology of the database. Additionally there is a general problem linked to the use of the term "referendum" as a synonym for popular votes on substantive issues, as the former is just one version of the later.
Direct democracy is a useful tool for both understanding democratic will and for enhancing the accountability of elected representatives. It has become an increasingly essential component of effective democratic governance
Here´s the good news: the new energy around modern direct democracy will be welcomed by the worldwide democracy support community. After having published a primer for constitution-builders on modern direct democracy International IDEA is considering the development and publication of a Global Passport to Modern Direct Democracy, offering key recommendations and building blocks to both designers and users of initiative and referendum processes. Also, the global 30-Member-State organization, which officially is committing to the citizen as driver of change, has started to support the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (Unitar) in providing online and on-site academic programs on direct democratic procedures and practices.
In sum, International IDEA now pursues an open and constructive approach to the new forms of active citizenship, summarized in a recent briefing with the following words: "Direct democracy is here to stay and should be welcomed - but does have limitations".
