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The premier Global Forum on Direct Democracy took place in Aarau,
Switzerland in October 2008. It brought together practitioners, activists
and professionals from across the globe and featured a world tour of
direct-democratic hotspots. Special thematic forums and public events
covered educational issues, developments in North America, Latin America
and Asia, as well as the importance of initiatives and referendums in
the European integration process. While the 2009 Forum was taking place in
Korea/Asia, the 2010 is scheduled to take place in San Francisco and the 2011
in Santiago de Chile.
In recent years, many states around the world have introduced
direct-democratic procedures and plebiscites; in Europe, there has been a
massive increase in the use of popular rights since 1989, and within the
framework of the European Union, consideration is being given to the first
ever implementation of a transnational instrument of direct democracy -
the so-called European Citizens’Initiative which is in fact an agenda
initiative. Since 1990, initiative and Referendum as well as plebiscite procedures
have been introduced in nearly all the countries of Latin America; in
Asia, too, there is a growing tendency towards introducing direct democracy
which entitles citizens to take part in decision-making on substantive
political issues.
As a result, there is a
growing focus, not only within politics, but also in the fields of
administration, academia, media and civil society, on the qualitative aspects
of modern democracy and questions are being asked about the potential and
limits of modern direct democracy both from a legal and practical point of
view. The Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy gathers professionals from
politics, government, academia, civil society, business and media, and is
hosted by IRI, a special think-tank on citizens’rights, together with many of
its partners including the Korea Democracy Foundation.
This global process
explores the grounds for a worldwide network and aims to achieve various goals,
which include:
-
preparing a global
inventory of the procedures and praxis of citizens’rights;
-
launching a public
debate on the potential and the limits of direct democracy within the
process of European integration;
-
presenting ideas and
proposals for a global curriculum and agenda in the fields of
education and research;
-
exploring the
foundations and next steps for the establishment of a World Democracy Forum, a new permanent meeting place for the
development of global modern direct democracy.
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