Editing Direct democracy (section)

=== Modern era ===

Modern-era citizen-lawmaking occurs in the cantons of [[Switzerland]] from the 13th century. In 1848 the Swiss added the "statute referendum" to their national constitution, requiring the public to vote on if a constitutional change should occur.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wagschal |first=Uwe |date=1997 |title=Direct Democracy and Public Policymaking |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4007611 |journal=Journal of Public Policy |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=223–245 |doi=10.1017/S0143814X0000355X |jstor=4007611 |issn=0143-814X}}</ref> They soon discovered that merely having the power to veto Parliament's laws was not enough. In 1891 they added the "constitutional amendment initiative". Swiss politics since 1891 have given the world a valuable experience-base with the national-level constitutional amendment initiative.<ref name="Kobach1993">{{Harvnb|Kobach|1993}}</ref> In the past 120 years, more than 240 initiatives have been put to referendums. Most popular initiatives are discussed and approved by the Parliament before the referendum. Out of the remaining initiatives that go to the referendum, only about 10% are approved by voters; in addition, voters often opt for a version of the initiative rewritten by the government. (See [[#Switzerland|"Direct democracy in Switzerland"]] below.){{sfnp|Hirschbühl|2011a}}{{sfnp|Hirschbühl|2011b}}{{sfnp|Hirschbühl|2011c}}{{sfnp|Hirschbühl|2011d}}

Some of the issues surrounding the related notion of a direct democracy using the [[Internet]] and other communications technologies are dealt with in the article on [[e-democracy]] and below under the heading [[#Electronic direct democracy|''Electronic direct democracy'']]. More concisely, the concept of [[open-source governance]] applies principles of the [[free software movement]] to the governance of people, allowing the entire populace to participate in government directly, as much or as little as they please.<ref>
{{Cite book|title = Open Source Democracy|last = Rushkoff|first = Douglas|publisher = Project Gutenberg Self-Publishing|year = 2004|location = Project Gutenburg|url = http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/10753/pg10753.txt}}
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