Talk:Semi-direct democracy

''This page was listed on Votes for deletion in May, 2004. The result of that discussion was to redirect to Direct democracy, after a merge was performed. For an archive of the discussion, see Talk:Semi-direct democracy/Delete.''

Is this for real?


 * Yes, there are many models for it. But naming is confusing.  For instance the manifesto linked calls itself a 'Direct Democracy Manifesto' (probably to make right-wing advocates of pure direct democracy read it), but is very clearly not a 'Direct' democracy model in any sense, and is properly a mediated or semi-direct model.  The term grassroots democracy is much less specific and tends to include all models that are different from representative politics as currently practice in any given country, i.e. it's a term that is deemed to mean 'good things', no one ever *opposes* anything called 'grassroots democracy'.  It would help if the article actually got into the substance of the Manifesto and simliar documents, outlined why 'semi-', 'moderated', or 'mediated' models are more desirable than strict 'direct' models or more consensus oriented models like deliberative democracy or the (poorly named) consensus democracy <-- this last may be impractical.


 * it would also help if very specific methods for mediating voting were listed.

I'm also uncertain whether semi-direct democracy is a real term. What triggers my bozo flag is that there's only one external link. Perhaps this term was conjured up as a way to link to only one site? We shouldn't build an "encyclopedia" on terms like that.

The only saving grace is the later addition that refers to Liquid Democracy, which is a real (if still new) democracy-related term that's referred to in many spots on the web.

I would argue that Liquid Democracy is an implementation of Direct democracy, rather than "semi-direct democracy".

Stevietheman 23:31, 13 Apr 2004 (UTC)

I've added the following blurb to direct democracy to hopefully take any sting out of a potential redirect. In other words, this term "gets its props". I don't think that establishment should guarantee a term its own article, if the term is only a very minor extension of another term. -- Stevietheman 20:12, 15 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Some political scholars use the term semi-direct democracy to describe direct democracy systems that are mediated in some way to protect civil liberties as well as protecting minority interests from majoritarianism. However, since direct democracy mechanisms are almost always mediated in this way, this term suggests a grey area where there is most likely none.