Politics Of Direct Democracy Research Articles

Observing Properly Changing Forms of Spontaneity and Organization: Creative Conflicts in C. L. R. James’ Hegelian Dialectics and Political Philosophy

Abstract C. L. R. James’ Notes on Dialectics and his other meditations on Hegelian philosophy are less about categories of cognition than on how to apply them to changing forms of spontaneity and organization in historical freedom movements. Reflecting creative conflict in his own politics, James uses them to condemn vanguard parties and theorize the propagation of the destruction of hierarchy. Reminding middle-class intellectuals, not working people, how to think, James also interprets dialectics to preserve Leninism at the expense of his evolving politics of direct democracy. James places dialectical analysis in conversation with the Puritan, French, Russian, and Spanish Revolutions, as well as with the African American freedom movement. He is also usefully considered in relation to Herbert Marcuse and Albert Camus. Characterized as a Hegelian romantic idealist, James’ historical and political speculations in fact were inconsistent in tracing out direct popular self-management as the meaning of the futu...

Initiative-centered politics: the new politics of direct democracy

Initiative-centered politics: the new politics of direct democracy

The Politics of Direct Democracy: Referendums in Global Perspective.

The Politics of Direct Democracy: Referendums in Global Perspective., Lawrence LeDuc., Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview. 2003, pp. 214.The 1980s marked a watershed in the evolution of liberal democracy. On the global front the principles of liberal democracy were successfully used as battering rams to demolish the walls erected by its powerful Cold War rival—socialism. Our side declared victory and the end of ideological conflict. And yet in its struggle with socialism liberal democracy planted the seeds for its own transformation—it was hoist with its own petard. A new consensus emerged. Our elections were also a sham, parties provided little or no meaningful choice, and legislators were unrepresentative, unresponsive and unaccountable. On major constitutional and moral issues there was gridlock. From the left came calls for “people power” and more inclusive and empowering institutions. From the right came calls for privatizing the State and reducing the autonomy of elected officials and the “special interests” who controlled it. Enter the referendum as a way of addressing this “democratic deficit.” Why not let the people decide?

Overturning Term Limits: The Legislature's Own Private Idaho?

political science at the University of Denver anc/ the author of Tax Crusaders and the Politics of Direct Democracy (Routledge, 1998). He serves on the Board of Directors of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center Foundation lBISCF) and has published widely on the process and politics of direct democracy, interest groups, and political parties in the American states. He would like to thank Gary Moncrief, Dan Levin, and his colleagues last year at the University of Florida, particularly Jeff Gill ancl Dave Hecige, for their critical feedback on this article. He can be contacted at dasmith@du.edu. Let's not mince words, the Idaho Legislature, with Speaker Newcomb as headthug, has launched a coup d'etat against the people. It must not stand. Paul Jacobs (2002), Senior Fellow, U.S. Term Limits

The Initiative to Party

Previous research on the initiative process tends to underestimate the involvement of political parties in ballot measure contests as well as the impact of partisanship on initiative voting. Focusing on recent ballot contests in California, we find that the two major party organizations in California are actively using ballot initiatives to bolster voter turnout for their candidates, divide the opposition with `wedge' issues and promote their own party's platform and ideology. This party involvement in initiative contests seems to be paying off, as partisanship is the strongest predictor of votes on ballot measures in California at both the aggregate and individual levels. More generally, our research - which runs counter to the expectations of Populist and Progressive reformers - shines new light on how political parties are shaping not only the process, but also the politics of direct democracy.