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The index measures the state of democracy in 167 of the world's countries by tracking 60 indicators in five different categories: electoral process and pluralism, functioning of government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties.
- Overview
- Countries and developmental background
- National level
- Regional level
- Paths to direct democracy
Provisions for direct-democratic instruments as well as their usage are distributed rather unevenly across continents, countries, and different levels of states.
Provisions for direct-democratic instruments as well as their usage are distributed rather unevenly across continents, countries, and different levels of states.
On the national level, procedures and usage are most frequent in Europe and Latin America, whereas in Africa, Asia, and North America their number is small. Switzerland traditionally has the most elaborated system of direct democracy at the national, cantonal, and municipal levels. On the national level, mandatory referenda on constitutional amendments were introduced in 1848, citizen-demanded rejective referenda on new legislation of parliament in 1874, citizens’ initiatives on constitutional amendments in 1891, and mandatory referenda on major international treaties in 1921. On the lower levels, even more instruments are often available, such as the mandatory financial referendum and legislative citizens’ initiative. More than one of the instruments of direct democracy are also provided for and practiced on the national level in Uruguay and, more recently, in some eastern European countries such as Latvia and Lithuania.
On the national level in most other countries, basically one specific instrument stands out. In Italy, for instance, most of the popular votes originated from citizens’ initiatives for an “abrogative referendum” to repeal an existing law or parts thereof. In Austria the national parliament can call a vote (used only once). In 2008 in the Fifth Republic of France, the president was given the right to call a referendum on important matters of sovereignty and state structure; one-fifth of the National Assembly in combination with 10 percent of the electorate can also do so. In many countries, governmental authorities call referenda on an ad hoc rather than a preregulated basis. The subjects of these referenda have included accession to or withdrawal from the European Community or the European Union (EU), independence or national unity in Canada, and ratification of a new constitution or of an agreement for conflict or constitutional settlement in Bolivia, Chile, Kenya, Russia, Spain, and South Africa.
The level of regional states within federations also offers important examples of direct democracy. In particular, about half of the states in the United States provide citizens’ initiative rights and some other procedures that quite often allow referendum votes on public finance. In many of these states, including Oregon, California, Colorado, and...
In systems of representative democracy, the introduction of instruments of direct democracy is not very likely, since they are regarded as undermining established power structures. The historical origins of direct-democratic institutions can be distinguished in typical paths:
1.Anti-oligarchic conflict, where initiative and referendum are directed against economic-political domination, as in Switzerland and in the Progressive movement in the Western states of the United States before 1914.
2.System transformation toward democracy, as in post-fascist Italy (implementation delayed until 1970), in German regional states after dictatorships in 1945 and 1990, or in Latin America in the 1980s and ’90s.
3.State independence, as in Ireland (1922, 1937) or in Latvia, Lithuania, and Slovenia after Soviet or Yugoslav domination.
Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the electorate decides on policy initiatives without elected representatives as proxies. This differs from the majority of currently established democracies, which are representative democracies.
Sep 14, 2017 · Methodology. The initial global research on direct democracy was conducted for the Direct Democracy: The International IDEA Handbook published by International IDEA in 2008. Many organizations and individuals were involved in this research, which was one of the major global studies of direct democracy.
May 13, 2022 · In 2021, 37% of the world’s population still lived under an authoritarian regime. Afghanistan tops this list, followed by Myanmar, North Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Syria. Of course, China has a big share of the population living under this style of regime.
- Raul Amoros
Apr 24, 2023 · How many countries globally are true democracies? This map showcases the state of democracy in every country worldwide.
By 2023, about 1.3 billion people lived in electoral democracies in all regions of the world: many live in the populous countries of Indonesia, Brazil, and South Africa. Another billion people lived in liberal democracies, such as those living in Chile, South Korea, and the United States.
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