POLI 130 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Civil Liberties, Robert Mugabe, Direct Democracy
Document Summary
Comes from the greek, rule of the people . Ex: us and ussr claimed that they both gave power to the people. No examples of literal direct democracy where entire population chooses government themselves. Advantage: full parti(cid:272)ipatio(cid:374), do(cid:374)"t ha(cid:448)e to (cid:449)orr(cid:455) a(cid:271)out (cid:272)orrupt administrators. Disadvantages: not practical, not everyone could be involved (women, slaves, etc. Referendum: public can vote on specific policy decision. Ex: us local level and state level. Advantage: people"s opi(cid:374)io(cid:374) - true will of the people. Example of tyranny of majority: switzerland ban on minarets on mosques in nov 2009. Representative: elect officials to represent our interests and to make decisions on our behalf. Supposed to use expertise to make decisions that the majority of people may not like that is supposed to be good for the health of the democracy. Central mechanism that allows representative democracy to function is elections. Ca(cid:374) (cid:448)ote the(cid:373) out of offi(cid:272)e if (cid:455)ou do(cid:374)"t like decisions they make.
