Table of Contents
Definition of Direct Democracy
(noun) A political system whereby individuals vote on policy issues directly instead of through an elected representative.
Example of Direct Democracy
- There is no country that has a direct democracy, but Switzerland comes close, because there are systems in place for citizens to challenge laws.
Direct Democracy Pronunciation
Syllabification: di·rect de·moc·ra·cy
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /duhr-rEkt di-mAHk-ruh-see/
- British English – /die-rEkt di-mOk-ruh-see/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /dəˈrɛkt dɪˈmɑkrəsi/
- British English – /daɪˈrɛkt dɪˈmɒkrəsi/
Usage Notes
- Plural: direct democracies
- Direct democracy is contrasted to representative democracy.
- A type of government and political system.
- Also called pure democracy.
Additional Information
- Politics and Policy Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Word origin of “direct” and “democracy” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
- Berman, Larry, and Bruce Allen Murphy. 2013. Approaching Democracy. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
- Dahl, Robert A. 1989. Democracy and its Critics. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
- Dasgupta, Samir, and Jan Nederveen Pieterse. 2009. Politics of Globalization. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
- Duncan, Graeme Campbell. 1983. Democratic Theory and Practice. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
- Fukuyama, Francis. 2014. Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
- Goodin, Robert E. 2008. Innovating Democracy: Democratic Theory and Practice after the Deliberative Turn. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Jaquette, Jane S., and Sharon L. Wolchik. 1998. Women and Democracy: Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
- Landman, Todd, and Neil Robinson. 2009. The SAGE Handbook of Comparative Politics. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
- Lane, Jan-Erik, and Svante O. Ersson. 1999. Politics and Society in Western Europe. 4th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
- Lively, Jack. 1975. Democracy. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
- Mills, C. Wright. 1956. The Power Elite. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Nagle, John D., and Alison Mahr. 1999. Democracy and Democratization: Post-communist Europe in Comparative Perspective. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
- Przeworski, Adam. 1993. Democracy and the Market: Political and Economic reforms in Eastern Europe and Latin America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Rodrik, Dani. 2012. The Globalization Paradox: Democracy and the Future of the World Economy. New York: Norton.
- Schumpeter, Joseph Alois. 1943. Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy. London: Routledge.
- Singh, Robert. 2003. American Government and Politics: A Concise Introduction. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
- Tocqueville, Alexis de. 1835. Democracy in America.
- Wolin, Sheldon S. 2008. Democracy Incorporated: Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
- Introduction to Sociology/Politics – Wikibooks: wikibooks.org
- Theories of Democracy – Sociology: boundless.com
Related Terms
Works Consulted
Abercrombie, Nicholas, Stephen Hill, and Bryan Turner. 2006. The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology. 5th ed. London: Penguin.
Calhoun, Craig J., ed. 2002. Dictionary of the Social Sciences. New York: Oxford University Press.
Cane, Peter, and Joanne Conaghan, eds. 2008. The New Oxford Companion to Law. New York: Oxford University Press.
Castree, Noel, Rob Kitchin, and Alisdair Rogers. 2013. A Dictionary of Human Geography. New York: Oxford University Press.
Downs, Anthony. 1957. An Economic Theory of Democracy. New York: Harper Collins.
Farlex. (N.d.) TheFreeDictionary.com: Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus. Farlex. (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/).
Harcup, Tony. 2014. A Dictionary of Journalism. New York: Oxford University Press.
Henslin, James M. 2012. Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach. 10th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Honderich, Ted., ed. 2005. The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
Jary, David, and Julia Jary. 2000. Collins Dictionary, Sociology. 3rd ed. Glasgow, Scotland: HarperCollins.
McLean, Iain, and Alistair McMillan. 2009. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
Princeton University. 2010. WordNet. Princeton University. (http://wordnet.princeton.edu/wordnet).
Scott, John, and Gordon Marshall. 2005. A Dictionary of Sociology. New York: Oxford University Press.
Thompson, William E., and Joseph V. Hickey. 2012. Society in Focus: An Introduction to Sociology. 7th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Turner, Bryan S., ed. 2006. The Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wiktionary, The Free Dictionary. Wikimedia Foundation. (http://en.wiktionary.org).
Cite the Definition of Direct Democracy
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2015. “direct democracy.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved April 24, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/direct-democracy/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
direct democracy. (2015). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/direct-democracy/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2015. “direct democracy.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed April 24, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/direct-democracy/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“direct democracy.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2015. Web. 24 Apr. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/direct-democracy/>.