popular views in question
Done uncommon, referendums and consultations popular feed, these days, the news political, local and European. In Switzerland, where consultation is not uncommon, the fifth federal referendum was held late September. The Irish, they come to give a decisive push to the Treaty of Lisbon and Antwerp are preparing to go to the voting booth this Sunday, October 18, for - who knows - a fatal blow to the "Lange Wapperbrug" this mega-project road bridge north of the city.
The referendum is an institution of direct democracy ("the electorate decides, or indicative of a binding on a particular matter") and represents an additional - Not alternative - to representative democracy ("the electoral body shall appoint representatives in the Assemblies"). Its variants are numerous, I will not go into details here. Without ignoring the differences, but for convenience, I will continue speaking indiscriminately of popular consultation and referendum generically.
What is the contribution of the popular consultation to democracy?
I want, above all, the obvious : Democracy is not a body of fixed rules untouchable, cast in an iron law. General principles of representation of the people and the rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms constitute the matrix, but beyond that, the political regimes that claim it are many, none can claim democratic excellence. Each system is rooted in its history and its present, it forms a relative equilibrium, determined by its cultural context. Sometimes this notion of relativity of democracy is lost sight of, voluntarily or not. The "what is undemocratic ... "heard here and there tend to irritate me.
In its adaptation to changing context, democracy is experiencing a general trend of rapprochement between politicians and citizens. The distance is up to the vicinity: the Minister mingles with the people he speaks "as people" and sharing their leisure. At the institutional level, efforts are underway to make government more transparent and accessible. New forms of democracy are implemented: conciliation committee, public inquiries, association groups in decision-making process, citizen panels, etc.. Democracy is participatory forms.
This change, inevitable and necessary, represents a step forward.
It tends, however, now clear the fundamental difference in status between each other. The policy is not an ordinary citizen, elected, he wears a project or vision. It is he who must, ultimately , determine how to implement this project, even assuming some kind of unpopularity. The position of a politician is not the sum of the opinions of his constituents - the amount remains impossible. This does not mean it is not important in the decision making process, taking into account the expressions of citizens' positions, but this consideration is a step in the process, not its culmination. The political dialectic is not just the fiction of a unilateral relationship of voters to their representatives that some populist would pretend to be the essence of democracy.
Even so and to return to the subject, it is in light of this tension between "local" and "distance" between "citizen expression" and "political responsibility" that must consider the interests of the popular consultation.
The referendum asks the public debate. It requires policies out of their circles, to explain and disclose their arguments. Their desire to convince him to make proof of education (or grandstanding - but this criticism also applies to the elections). For their part, citizens are stimulated and invited to consider and they participate in the discussion as they would never have done. Rating other experts occupy public space. Technicians must "disseminate."
The richness and strength of the debates knows the city of Antwerp in the final straight before the popular consultation are impressive. The Standaard newspaper reports including daily ( http://bit.ly/1N8zqE ) . Doubtless this consultation she comes a little late, but that is another question.
The French referendum of May 29, 2005, initiated and uncontrolled by Jacques Chirac (plebiscite somewhat failed), gave, too, rise to a profusion of debates, absent in states where the Constitution was ratified by the European Parliament.
Although the referendum is not provided sine qua non of democratic ferment, but it has the virtue of creating or amplifying the inevitable.
The accusations against the referendum, I hear them well: binary debates, diversion of the object, simplifying reduction issues, etc.. Charles Bricman the recently expressed in his blog "We have things to say" ( http://bit.ly/1phYU6 ).
These criticisms are probably well founded, although the example shows in Antwerp, seen from Brussels, that the complexity of things seems well considered. But these criticisms are worth, the same way for general elections. Who votes in perfect knowledge of the facts (ie the party platforms)? Policies not adopt simplistic and caricatured positions during election campaigns ("the liberal crisis" rabies taxatoire "...)? Who voted in the light of European issues in the European elections ? This is not a feature of the popular consultation to address these through.
The referendum enriches democracy. A practice policy to respect the results should probably be put in place, but it does not seem desirable to impose the law. This would deprive the political responsibility. I would consider a weakness of democracy a system which does not grant it the power of the last word.