Book Review of Citizenship and Contemporary Direct Democracy by David Altman, Cambridge University Press, 2019.
Book Review of Citizenship and Contemporary Direct Democracy by David Altman, Cambridge University Press, 2019.
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David Altman 的《公民身份和当代直接民主》书评，剑桥大学出版社，2019 年。
DOI：
10.1111/deve.12219
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发表时间：
2019
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Marisa KELLAM
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
松本邦彦;Marisa KELLAM
在世界民主前景黯淡的时代，大卫·奥特曼的新书《公民与当代直接民主》提出了一个乐观的建议，即通过采用和使用公民发起的直接民主机制（CI-MDDs）来实现“民主民主化”。在这本书中，这位来自智利教皇大学Católica的乌拉圭政治学家恳请读者从比较的角度来看待最近备受瞩目的民众投票，比如英国脱欧或哥伦比亚和平协议，并通过超越任何民众投票的结果来评估直接民主的价值。作为其开创性著作《全球直接民主》（Direct Democracy Worldwide，剑桥大学出版社，2011）的重要续集，奥特曼的新书再次强调了代议制民主和直接民主的互补性。虽然所有的直接民主机制都允许公民以无记名投票的方式对具体问题进行投票，但奥特曼根据两个关键方面对这些机制进行了区分：第一，它们是如何发起的，由谁发起的；第二，它们是为了改变现状还是阻止变革而设计的。这本书特别关注了第一个方面，主要研究了由普通公民签名收集引发的ci - mdd，而不是由当局引发的自上而下的直接民主机制（td - mdd）。Altman认为，ci - mdd有可能提高民主的质量：“当当局不控制直接民主机制的使用时，与这些机制不存在相比，他们有更强的动机去追随、至少不会忽视公民的偏好；这是因为公民有一个强大的制度平台，他们可以从中强制要求更高程度的问责。15)。
In a time of doom and gloom with respect to the prospects of democracy worldwide, David Altman’s new book, Citizenship and Contemporary Direct Democracy, offers an optimistic proposal to “democratize democracy” through the adoption and use of citizeninitiated mechanisms of direct democracy (CI-MDDs). With this book, the Uruguayan political scientist from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile implores readers to put recent high-profile popular votes, such as Brexit or the Colombian Peace Deal, in comparative perspective, and to assess the value of direct democracy by looking beyond the results of any popular vote. As an important sequel to his groundbreaking book, Direct Democracy Worldwide (Cambridge University Press, 2011), Altman’s new book again emphasizes the complementarity of representative democracy and direct democracy.While all mechanisms of direct democracy (MDDs) allow citizens to vote on specific issues in a secret ballot, Altman differentiates these mechanisms according to two key aspects: first, how and by whom they are initiated and, second, whether they are designed to alter the status quo or to prevent change. Focusing in particular on the first aspect, the book is primarily a study of CI-MDDs, which are triggered by signature gathering among ordinary citizens, as opposed to top-down mechanisms of direct democracy (TD-MDDs) that are triggered by authorities. Altman argues that CI-MDDs have the potential to improve the quality of democracy:“When authorities do not control the uses of mechanisms of direct democracy, they have stronger incentives to if not follow, at least not ignore, citizens’ preferences than if these mechanisms did not exist; this is because citizens have a powerful institutional platform from which they can force a higher degree of accountability”(p. 15).