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0 pointsoumua_don175y ago0 comments

AFAIK, Switzerland is the only country with direct democracy or ‘Govt is the people’.

As you said overwhelming majority, are there any countries that have direct democracy or come close?

0 comments

California (not a country, obviously) is otherwise virtually comparable with Switzerland in this respect. Full constitutional amendments and legislative vetoes can occur via referendum.

EDIT: In practice, larger cities in California seem to have a comparable number of referendums as well. Unfortunately, they're all bundled into an election every 1-2 years rather than the Swiss system of elections every 3-4 months. This has its upsides, mainly in turnout which is still low in much of Switzerland, but also means many "less-notable" issues often aren't discussed in CA to the same degree that they seem to be here.

sologoub5y ago

Not familiar with the Swiss system, but CA system has some interesting nuances - laws enacted as approved propositions cannot be modified at all, except by another approved proposition. In theory, that protects them from legislative overwriting/meddling, but also does not allow to fix unintended consequences. Here’s an example where a proposition was needed to authorize state legislature to make modifications to an older proposition: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_California_Proposition_7

And of course, CA still has daylight savings time because this proposition required two thirds vote.

repolitical5y ago

Have a look at Taiwan.

Taiwan (the Republic of China) is another jurisdiction with direct democracy elements. Direct democratic rights have been in their constitution since 1940s, but they weren't seriously implemented until 2000s. The exercise of these rights is still relatively new in Taiwan.

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