An Introduction To Semi-Direct Democracy

Adrian Sulc (CC BY-SA 3.0)Creative Commons Legal Code

Some see direct democracy and representative democracy as two completely separate entities. However, one thing people seem to not realize is that direct democracy (people directly voting on important issues) and representative democracy (people vote for representatives who represent them) don't have to necessarily be exclusive.

There is a version of democracy that can mend the two into a new entity that allows people to have a direct say in their government without getting rid of representative government called semi-direct democracy: a democratic system where "representatives administer daily governance, but citizens keep the sovereignty". The only nation successfully using this form of government is the nation of Switzerland, which allows people to hold referendums on any law voted by federal, cantonal parliament, or a municipal legislative body. Because of this, the Swiss vote more than any other people since their votes can matter on a legislative level and on a representative level. Basically, the lines between direct democracy and representative democracy can be blurred and remove the issues each system has. Many ay direct democracy can lead to mob rule, as certain thinkers like Professor John T Tenders of the University of Idaho point out:

If we base our critique on the definition of democracy as governance based on the will of the majority, there can be some foreseeable consequences to this form of rule. For example, Fierlbeck (1998: 12) points out that the middle class majority in a country may decide to redistribute wealth and resources into the hands of those that they feel are most capable of investing or increasing them. Of course this is only a critique of a subset of types of democracy that primarily use majority rule.

Machiavelli also pointed out how a government under direct democracy can fall apart if it caters to the whims of a dumb, uneducated majority, but pointed out how combining direct democracy with some other form of government could prevent this.

However, people like Bernard Manin have pointed out that representative democracy can lead to an equally undesirable outcome - a certain group of elites controlling things on 'behalf of the people':

The real difference between ancient democracies and modern republics lies, according to Madison, in "the total exclusion of the people in their collective capacity from any share in the latter, and not in the total exclusion of the representatives of the people from the administration of the former.

Both forms of democracy have flaws, but semi-direct democracy does work to fix these issues by having a well-educated population get the tools to change laws if they truly want to while having a body of smart elected representatives craft laws and run daily tasks on their behalf. In addition to Switzerland, this form of semi-direct democracy can be implemented in some forms of anarchism. The anarcho-mutualist community of FEJUVE - for example - has a participatory democracy where neighborhood councils have democratically elected members and leaders that are elected to handle regular matters of the community. There are monthly assemblies where members of the community can meet and directly suggest new things to do in the community, but the leaders handle regular business and discuss decisions that are on the table. A similar form of semi-direct democracy was implemented in old anarchist communities of the past too like the Essenes sect of Judaism from biblical times that allowed people to have direct say in their community, but also elect leaders to represent the interest of the community and handle regular functions.