Direct Democracy

Direct democracy refers to a system in which all citizens participate in political decision-making processes. This regime type was first conducted in ancient Athenian politics of Greece in 508 B.C. However, the right to direct participation was restricted to male citizens, who selected their representative officers annually. The success of Athenian democracy was due to the city-state's small population of 300,000 people. A similar political system run by citizens was exercised in the Roman Republic in 449 B.C. Citizens participated in the entire lawmaking process, and the political system lasted approximately 400 years.

Modern citizen lawmaking was established by Switzerland's “status referendum” in 1847. In the 20th century, the United Kingdom pursued the Direct Democracy Campaign, which encourages both citizens and elected representatives to launch public ...