IR+R NEWS - occasional newsletter about democratic reform, citizens'
initiative, referendum, recall of elected officials. Compiled by Michael
Macpherson M.R.C.P.(U.K.). Contact details below.
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Items:
- Network of Direct Democracy Initiatives in Europe.
- Veteran activist and campaigner Ralph Nader for direct democracy.
- International Conference "Direct Democracy: the eastern and central
european experience".

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Comments and discussion are invited at Democr@cy Forum
http://www.democracyforum.net/democracy/

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A recent venture "Network of Direct Democracy Initiatives in Europe"
http://home.t-online.de/home/nddie/home~1.htm is developing fast. Aims include
* facilitate the spread of ideas and promote debate about introducing
citizens' initiative and referendum (where these are absent) into all
countries of Europe. Formation of countrywide and local working groups is
encouraged.
* stimulate thought and debate about how Europe should develop. What if any
can be the role of direct democracy? How can common european politics be
legitimated, especially if several more states (e.g. eastern Europe) are to
be integrated?

The Network proposal is sketched in several languages - help is needed to
translate other languages. Workshops are planned in Italy, France, Czech
Republic, Spain and Portugal (Paris this month).

People involved include Heiko Dittmer mailto:[log in to unmask], and
"Christine Gruwez" <[log in to unmask]> of the Belgian Direct Democracy
Movement "W.I.T" http://www.ping.be/jvwit/directdemocracynow.html

Jiri Polak, Sweden and Czech Republic mailto:[log in to unmask]
Initiator and organizer of the First International Conference on Direct
Democracy (Czech Republic, August 1998), editor of the Worldwide Direct
Democracy Newsletter and founder of a Czech Direct Democracy Movement.
The Second International Congress on Direct Democracy will be in Greece,
June 2000.

Thomas Rupp, Germany, mailto:[log in to unmask] German Direct Democracy
Movement "Mehr Demokratie e.V." http://www.mehr-demokratie.de/

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Veteran activist and campaigner Ralph Nader for direct democracy.

Extracted from a message by Evan Ravitz of VOTE.ORG to the discussion list
CIDD Continuing International Congress on Direct Democracy
http://www.egroups.com/group/cicdd/info.html:

QUOTE

Ralph Nader told a Green Party fundraiser in Seattle during WTO that
Greens should prioritize dd and I&R. I'm helping Colorado Greens write a
platform featuring same. We're hosting the national Green convention in
Denver, so this may become the main thrust of a Nader or other Green
Presidential effort. (Ed.: dd = direct democracy  I&R = citizens'
initiative and referendum)

This will catapult dd into the public arena like nothing else, and may
help repair the damage that Perot did to our concept in 1992.

2 things Perot had wrong:

dd should not be "instant" with mass voting right after a TV debate. It
should be "deliberative" with months of debate etc.

The telephone system couldn't cope with everyone voting en mass. If more
than some 3% of phones are off the hook at once, the system gridlocks.

2 things Perot had right:

The top priority should be "national electronic town meetings" (generally)

"The party's over." I know what he means, but to me it could also mean
that political parties won't be so important with direct democracy.
__________________________________________
Evan Ravitz  (303)440-6838   [log in to unmask]
Government by the People:  http://vote.org

UNQUOTE

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Conference organised by the University of Geneva

Quoted from the announcement at http://c2d.unige.ch/col2000/

Direct Democracy: the eastern and central european experience.

International Conference, Budapest, February 25/26 2000  Topics include

* Direct vs representative democracy
* Popular sovereignty and referendums
* Nationwide institutions and experiences
* Subject-matters of popular votes
* Techniques and procedures of popular votes
* Plebiscites and referendums
* Nationwide institutions and experiences
* Forms of government and referendums
* Participation and turnout
* Influence of political parties, movements and other pressure groups on
direct democracy
* Sub-national direct democracy
* Regional and local experiences

Presentation

Since the collapse of communist rule between 1989 and 1991, most Eastern
and Central European countries have adopted new Constitutions. All these
Constitutions declare in their general principles that the national
sovereignty resides with the people, and most of them add that the people
will exercise this supreme power directly and through representative bodies.

The considerable extent to which the new Constitutions have introduced by
now instruments on direct democracy is very impressive. In nearly all
countries of Eastern and Central Europe constitutional regulations
regarding the referendum or the popular initiative can be found. In several
countries special laws have been enacted which regulate the national and
local referendum. Since 1989, the referendum has been employed several
times in different countries. There have been other occasions on which a
referendum has been proposed for resolving certain issues but has not taken
place.

Thus, the picture which the Eastern and Central European democracies
present today is fascinating. The margin opened by the Constitutions for
the instruments of direct democracy is very wide. The institutions can play
a considerable role in the political life of these countries. But the
efficient working of the mechanism of direct democracy depends on several
social and political conditions, especially on the freedom of press and
other media, on the influence of other social and economic pressure groups,
on the free activity of political parties and on a certain readiness of the
citizen to political participation. Direct democracy thus represents much
more a part of the political culture of a country than the result of legal
provisions.

It must be recognised that the nations emerging from communist rule and
moving towards democratic standard are still experimenting with democratic
institutions which vary considerably from one country to the other and
whose political function is different in each country. Although especially
the referendum seems to have become established as a political instrument,
agreement on its appropriate role has not yet been reached in the new
democracies, nor are there any clear patterns of electoral behaviour in
this context. While the debate continues, a conference on the subject might
help to achieve a better understanding of the role direct democracy plays
in Eastern and Central European countries today.

The conference, which will be held in English, will take place on two days
and will contain three major parts: one on the theoretical aspects of
direct democracy, one on the existing institutions and experiences lived in
different Eastern and Central European countries and one on regional and
local direct democracy. Eastern direct democracy specialists will present
the different subjects, and Western scholars will comment on them. Thus,
the aim of the conference is not only to lead to a better understanding of
direct democracy in Eastern and Central European countries but also to
allow researchers and scholars from Eastern, Central and Western Europe to
meet and exchange their results and views on the subject.

UNQUOTE

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr. Michael Macpherson,
PSAMRA/Integral Studies,
Berlin FRG
tel.: +49 30 262 3768
e-mail: [log in to unmask]

INTEGRAL STUDIES
http://www.snafu.de/~mjm/index.html

PSYCHO-SOCIAL AND MEDICAL RESEARCH PSAMRA
http://www.snafu.de/~mjm/psamra.html












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