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Popular democracy is a notion ofdirect democracy based onreferendums and other devices ofempowerment and concretization of popular will. The concept evolved out of the political philosophy ofpopulism, as a fully democratic version of this popular empowerment ideology, but since it has become independent of it, and some even discuss if they are antagonistic or unrelated now (see Values). Though the expression has been used since the 19th century and may be applied toEnglish Civil War politics, at least the notion (or the notion in its current form) is deemed recent and has only recently been fully developed.
Some figures, likeTV documentary producer, director and writer Colin Thomas, see theLevellers, resistance of groups to both theStuart monarchy andOliver Cromwell'sEnglish Republic as early popular democracy advocacy groups. Thomas sees the line of this early popular democracy going through thedissenting church, to theAmerican Revolutionaries and later Britishtrade unionism.[1]
Thomas Paine'sCommon Sense is sometimes considered to defend a form of popular democracy.[2]Andrew Jackson was considered a defender of popular democracy as a politician and president,[3][4][5] and his presidency is considered as having made the transition fromrepublic (Jeffersonian democracy) to popular democracy (Jacksonian democracy) in the United States[6]
Walt Whitman uses the word inDemocratic Vistas as description of the vague notion of masse democracy withuniversal suffrage of a more or less direct andparticipatory type he defended. He admitted that the system had some dangers, but it "practically justifies itself beyond the proudest claims and wildest hopes of its enthusiasts".[7]William Jennings Bryan may be considered a popular democrat for his support of a democracy based on popular sovereignty.[8]
Theodore Roosevelt is considered a defender of a popular democrat insurgency against big business and elitism.[9]
In the end of the first half of the 20th century, theChristian democratic parties preferred the term "popular democrats" to Christian democrats.[10]
In post-independenceIndia, popular democracy, together witheconomic andsocial liberalism andhindu nationalism, is considered one of the main currents that tried to defineIndian politics since 1947.[11]
Iran is sometimes referred as having a history of popular democracy in parallel with thePahlevi Monarchy before theoverthrowing of Mossadeq and reinstating ofthe Shah.[12]
Eugene McCarthy was seen as a popular democrat presidential campaigner in 1968.[9]
In 1969Muammar al-Gaddafi overthrew the pro-western monarchy and created a system he claimed to be a popular democracy.[13]
Similarly to Gaddafi,Hafez al-Assad, officially ended the one party state ofBa'ath Syria created by the 1963coup d'état in 1970, declaring the creation of a multi-party popular democracy.[14]
In 1975 Al Gaddafi wroteThe Green Book, where he defends his political system as a form of "direct and popular democracy" based on the will of the people instead of representativeparliaments.
After the fall ofFerdinand Marcos in 1986, a research and advocacy centre called theInstitute for Popular Democracy was created who frequently criticizes "elite politics" and defends reformist localsocial movements.
SomeBurkinabéCommunists founded a group who supported aMarxist-Leninist People's Democracy (though with afree-marketeconomic plan) in 1989, theOrganization for Popular Democracy - Labour Movement. In 1991 they renounced Marxism-Leninism and transformed their Marxism-Leninism into a form of popular democrat philosophy.[15]
Václav Havel'scivil-society-centered democraticCzechoslovakia was considered another form of popular democracy by some.[16]
In 1996 the popular democratic Organization for Popular Democracy - Labour Movement created theCongress for Democracy and Progress, being the current ruling party in Burkina Faso.
Theinternet is sometimes considered as a vital part or an example of modern popular democratic practices.[17]
SomeMarxist groups consider that the currentMiddle East is currently prepared for and wishes popular democracy (which in this context may be referring to Marxist People's Democracy) but that the "neoconservative design upon the region" and American power prevents this.[18]
There are some signs interpreted by analysts as possibilities of popular democracy, inNigeria,[19]Abkhazia andGeorgia.[20]
Former Venezuelan presidentHugo Chávez was sometimes considered to either be practicing[21] or simulating[22] popular democracy.
In 2003 it was published one of the main book-length appraisals of popular democracy,Hilary Wainwright'sReclaim the State: Experiments in Popular Democracy, a criticism of bothsocial democracy andbig government andneoliberalism andbig business.
As popular democracy is an ideal ofdirect andparticipatory democracy based ongrassroots, there aren't exactly very defined values beyond support of this kind of democracy over more representative types. But some attempts have been made to define popular democrat ideals based around the idea that this direct democracy is just a step for afull democracy. Some proposals of popular democratic common values have been:
Participatory budget and the policies of thePorto Alegre Forum are also associated with popular democracy by some left-wing authors.[25]
As the ideal of popular democracy came out of prepositions of Populism (ex: popular rule in democracy is fairer than elitistparliaments; decisions by general referendums are fairer than decisions by limited groups like parliaments and governments), and as platforms of certain groups claiming to be popular democratic are very similar to those of various democratic and undemocraticpopulist movements, there is discussion on the relation between both political philosophies.[26][27][28]
This ideal is currently supported byGlenn Smith[29] (who was connected to theRockridge Institute,[30] a now defunct organization) and many otherProgressive,Liberal and PopulistDemocrats.
Taking advantage of the vagueness of the concept many parties in a wide range of ideologies call themselvesPopular Democratic Party,Popular Democrat Party orPeople's Democratic Party, or evenDemocratic Popular Party orDemocratic People's Party and support or claim to support popular sovereignty in some form of popular democracy.
Alistair McConnachie writes frequent articles supporting popular democracy[23][24] for the think tankSovereignty, which he directs.
Self-described PopulistHarry C. Boyte adopts some popular democrat themes in his support ofgrassroots democracy.
TheNepalese Maoists also support a socialist, non-elitist, form of popular democracy,[31] which may be understood as a form ofMaoist people's democracy but based more on popular participation and less onVanguard parties.
Whitman wroteDemocratic Vistas in answer to criticism of universal suffrage and full democracy ofThomas Carlyle inLatter-Day Pamphlets, who considered the popular democratic system to be too many rights given to uneducated masses of the people, asrule should be kept in the hands ofhighly educated people andaristocrats.[32] These criticisms have been repeated numerous times as a way of showing popular democracy as just another word formob rule.
The idea ofmajoritarian, popular-will based democracy has been accused of facilitating the persecution ofSri Lankan Tamils.[33]
Other limitations of popular democracy have been indicated in its relation to other social movements (asfeminism andtrade unionism).[34]
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