About this Blog
Direct democracy -- the Switzerland-inspired system of initiatives, referenda and recalls that allows voters to make and repeal laws in 24 states -- is poorly understood. It isn’t even very direct. Direct democracy has become blockbuster democracy: a half-billion-dollar international industry of signature gatherers, consultants, and election lawyers who use ballot measures less as a method of making law and more as a tool of mega-communications to boost some politicians, hurt others, and supplement lobbying campaigns.
Blockbuster democracy is a decentralized business that practices wide-open politics. This blog aims to provide a center of news, analysis and conversation for and about the industry. We will report from blockbuster democracy’s capital -- California -- but we’ll monitor ballot measures from across the country and around the globe.
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Ireland: What Went Wrong?
That's the question posed by the Irish Times, after the defeat of the LIsbon Treaty in a referendum late this week. It's a big blow to the Irish government, which endorsed it, and to the European Union. It's not at all clear what comes next for the EU. Voters have no rejected a constitution and, in the only one of the 27 countries to permit voters to cast ballots, a treaty to replace the new, failed constitution.
Ironically, the defeat of the Irish referendum will -- at the same time -- limit and boost direct democracy in Europe. The treaty would have provided for the first transnational referenda -- that is, a plebiscite across all the EU countries. Those hopes seem dashed now. But with the Irish rejecting the treaty, Euroskeptics across the continent now have a strong argument for demanding referenda on the treaty in their own countries. The pressure on the UK's politically lead-footed prime minster, Gordon Brown, to permit a vote is likely to grow.
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