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    Forms of Democracy

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    Marek Jobek
    There are two main forms of democracy: direct democracy and indirect representative democracy. Direct democracy involves citizens directly participating in decision making through referendums or plebiscites. Indirect representative democracy involves citizens electing representatives who make decisions on their behalf. A referendum is a direct vote by citizens on a specific political issue, while a plebiscite is a vote on any issue. Referendums and plebiscites are used in some countries to supplement indirect representative democracy.

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    Forms of Democracy

    Uploaded by

    Marek Jobek
    19 views2 pages
    There are two main forms of democracy: direct democracy and indirect representative democracy. Direct democracy involves citizens directly participating in decision making through referendums or plebiscites. Indirect representative democracy involves citizens electing representatives who make decisions on their behalf. A referendum is a direct vote by citizens on a specific political issue, while a plebiscite is a vote on any issue. Referendums and plebiscites are used in some countries to supplement indirect representative democracy.

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    FORMS OF DEMOCRACY

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    There are two main forms of democracy: direct democracy and indirect representative democracy. Direct democracy involves citizens directly participating in decision making through referendums or plebiscites. Indirect representative democracy involves citizens electing representatives who make decisions on their behalf. A referendum is a direct vote by citizens on a specific political issue, while a plebiscite is a vote on any issue. Referendums and plebiscites are used in some countries to supplement indirect representative democracy.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    19 views2 pages

    Forms of Democracy

    Uploaded by

    Marek Jobek
    There are two main forms of democracy: direct democracy and indirect representative democracy. Direct democracy involves citizens directly participating in decision making through referendums or plebiscites. Indirect representative democracy involves citizens electing representatives who make decisions on their behalf. A referendum is a direct vote by citizens on a specific political issue, while a plebiscite is a vote on any issue. Referendums and plebiscites are used in some countries to supplement indirect representative democracy.

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    FORMS OF DEMOCRACY

    There are two basic forms of democracy:

    1) Direct democracy

    a)referendum

    b)plebiscite

    2) Indirect – representative democracy- elections

    DIRECT DEMOCRACY

    Direct democracy means direct participation of citizens in public matters without any
    representatives.

    In its original form the direct democracy existed in ancient Greece when people´ s assembly could
    make direct decisions about many issues. But the formation of very large and densely populated
    modern states has made direct democracy impossible. Nowadays direct democracy is used to
    supplement indirect democracy.

    Contemporary forms of direct democracy are plebiscite and referendum.

    PLEBISCITE- it is a general vote of people about any issue. The most common form of plebiscite is
    a territorial plebiscite: citizens living in a certain part of a state decide whether this territory stays a
    part of a state, or will become a part of a different state- they make a decision about territorial
    integrity of that particular state. In recent years a plebiscite is also used for other issues- for example
    the citizens in Austria decided in a plebiscite that a nuclear power station won´t be put into
    operation. A plebiscite can be based on an inner law of a state treaty, or as a decision of the UN.

    REFERENDUM- it is general vote by the electorate (voliči) on a single political question which has
    been referred to them for a direct democracy. It could also be a direct vote about a law proposal or
    about an already passed law. A question in referendum must be understandable and clear, not
    ambiguous.

    All citizens with the right to vote can vote in a referendum. It belongs to a direct democracy.

    Types of referendum:

    a) Obligatory- certain issues mentioned in a Constitution and therefore they can only be
    decided through a referendum. In Slovakia it is mandatory to held a referendum if the issue
    is entering into a relationship with another state, or to end such a relationship.
    b) Optional/facultative- a Constitution defines which questions of public interest can be decided
    in a referendum , but it is not obligatory.
    c) Ratification- a referendum which confirms a law already passed in a parliament . In Slovakia
    we do not have this type of a referendum in our Constitution.
    d) Governmental- initiators of this type of a referendum are: the head of a state, parliament, or
    government
    e) People´s – initiators are citizens who through a petition are able to collect the certain
    number of signatures stated in Constitution. In Slovakia a petition must be signed by 350 000
    people.
    THE HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS, TAXES, OBLIGATORY PAYMENTS AND STATE
    BUDGET CANNOT BE THE SUBJECT OF A REFERENDUM.
    In Slovakia referendum is announced by the president.

    A referendum is valid when more than the absolute majority of citizens with their right to vote
    take part in a referendum, and when a decision is made by more than a half of the absolute
    majority of participants.
    According to the Slovak Constitution a decision made in a referendum can be altered or
    abolished by the Slovak Parliament after three years since it came into effect.

    Rules about a referendum are in our Constitution in the fifth head, the second section.

    In Slovakia , citizens in a referendum decided to join NATO, to vote directly the president and
    to join EU.

    A referendum is also used on local levels (villages, towns). A question can be formed in such
    a way that it has a direct influence on everyday lives of citizens- e.g. building of a car factory,
    a waste dumps or motorway in villages´s or town´s territory. A decision made in a referendum
    helps to a local authority to govern a village or a city part according to the will of a majority of its
    citizens.

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