DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DIRECT AND PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DIRECT AND PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY

Democracy refers to the type of government through which people exercise the authority provided by the government. Democratic government focuses on how the power is shared amongst the citizens of a particular state. Some of the fundamental issues found on the democratic government include the freedom of speech, assembly, consent, right of voting, and equality rights. A democratic government upholds the rights of the minority, the right to life for every citizen in the republic. The two significant forms of democracy include the following; direct democracy and representative democracy. Direct democracy enhances people to make decisions on the policy inventiveness directly. The representative democracy is also referred to as indirect democracy. Indirect democracy is founded on the elected officials who represent the citizens or a particular group of people. The selected representative tends to make decisions for the citizens based on the constitution of a particular state. There exist numerous differences between direct democracy and representative democracy. Direct and representative democracy vary in theory and practice.

There exists a massive difference between the direct and participatory democracy, in democratic practice and theory, direct democracy presents primary contrast to the representative democracy. Direct democracy gives the citizens of a particular state more participation opportunities and democracy compared to the participatory democracy (Brooks, 2019).    In both the theoretical and practice, the justifications for direct democracy emanate from the shortages in indirect systems, as well as, theoretical limitations of direct democracy. Criticism theories regarding liberal democracy were established by the authors who established participatory democracy theories (Caspary, 2017). The chief difference between the representative democracy and the direct democracy concepts lies in the encouragement of significant involvement of the citizens on a political procedure compared to the standard design that is conducted in the participation.

Direct democracy is a bottom-up type of democracy. Direct democracy entails the involvement of all the members of the country; Hence an urge for the referendum is started within the citizens of a particular state and the parliament or the government. In case there is a need to change the constitutions, citizens might collect a specific signatures form the rest of the members of the society to understand their opinions (Lutz, 2015). Participatory democracy, on the other hand, is a top-down form of democracy, the power is disseminated from the top representatives in the parliament to the ordinary citizens in a country. For instance, in the case of a referendum, the idea is initiated from the parliament to the citizens as opposed to direct democracy (Caspary, 2017). the parliament or the government is the one that decides which matters that the citizens are supposed to get involvement. The contribution of the citizens in voting a particular motion is of less significance since their power is delegated throughout the parliament. Permitting the parliament to decide on the matters that citizens are supposed to contribute in is contrary to the notion held for sovereign people. Hence, in turn, leads to conflicts amongst the citizens and the government.

The other difference between direct and indirect democracy exists in the form of voting. In a direct democracy, people can influence the results of the voting. Citizens in a pure democracy exercise voting based on certain direct policies. For instance, a Brexit referendum where people can directly influence the results of the election (Lima, 2019). On the other hand, citizens in a representative government conduct elections to choose their representatives who present a certain policy, ideas, and the plan. Representatives that acquire the highest votes from the citizens are permitted to undertake his/her policies. In a representative democracy, people do not hold a direct influence on the results and the outcomes derived from the election process.

Representative democracy entails an electorate voting and choosing of the political parties and political candidates who make policy for the citizens. Citizens in representative democracy tend to entrust elected leaders to undertake activities based on the wishes of the citizens. The elected leaders who behave unethically or irrationally might not get back to the office after failing the citizens. This is because citizens are the one who chose the leaders that need to be in the office for a particular period. The form of governance that employs representative democracy is also regarded as a republic in practice. The United States is an example of the republic government that upholds the representative democracy. On the other hand, the direct democracy impact directly on the matters of the government, citizens have a direct influence on the activities undertaken by the government.

Direct democracy requires an undeviating contribution of the citizens throughout the republic in the management of the various activities of the government. Citizens in direct democracy take part in every decision that is made by the government. The government makes no decisions without the knowledge and approval of the citizens (Durst, 2018). Switzerland is an excellent example in which direct democracy is practiced. In the direct democracy, laws, policy and the bills are only approved after they are voted by every citizen in the country (Brooks, 2019). People in the direct democracy assemble, conduct a brainstorming session regarding their opinions concerning a particular issue in the country. They perform a discussion to establish firm decisions that are in accord with every citizen in the country (Durst, 2018. Hence in direct democracy, people citizens have a direct contribution to the decisions making procedure regarding issues that affect them in society.

On the other hand, the contributions of the citizens to decision making in the representative democracy is limited. The citizens do not have sufficient freedom to taking part in the establishment of vital decisions and policies in the country. India is an excellent example of a country that practices a representative democracy. The elected leaders tend to make some of the decisions, even if every citizen in the country does not support them. The elected representative of the citizens is considered to be more powerful compared to ordinary citizens; they hold more power to ordinary citizens.

In conclusion, there exists a difference between direct and participatory democracy. One of the chief differences between the direct and participatory democracy is the issue of voting. In the case of representative democracy, citizens tend to choose the representatives who initiate various policies and make plans on their behalf. In a direct democracy, people tend to make decisions on the plans and initiatives without the aid of an intermediary. The citizens in direct democracy tend to participate fully in the enactment of the policies. The direct democracy is a bottom-up approach; the initiatives tend to emanate from the citizens. Participatory democracy, on the other hand, employs a top-down approach; the citizen’s opinions are less considered in the case of participatory democracy since the power of the citizens is delegated amongst the member of parliament. The government in the participatory democracy regulates the matters that the citizens are supposed to participate in.

References

Brooks, H. (2019). The African National Congress and Participatory Democracy: From People’s Power to Public Policy. Springer.

Caspary, W. R. (2017). John Dewey between Participatory Democracy and Direct Action: A Commentary on Jeff Jackson. Democratic Theory, 4(1). https://doi.org/10.3167/dt.2017.040106

Durst, N. J. (2018). Racial gerrymandering of municipal borders: Direct democracy, participatory democracy, and voting rights in the United States. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 108(4), 938-954.

Lima, V. (2019). The limits of participatory democracy and the inclusion of social movements in local government. Social Movement Studies, 18(6), 667-681.

Lutz, G. (2015). THE INTERACTION BETWEEN DIRECT AND REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY IN SWITZERLAND. Representation, 42(1), 45–57. https://doi.org/10.1080/00344890600583776

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