Direct Democracy

About the lecture

Elections to a representative institution are not the only form of democracy. In this lecture, we contrast representative democracy with direct or participative democracy. We explore the use of referendums with recent examples, including the 2014 Scottish Independence referendum and the 2016 EU referendum. We also consider the relationship between referendums and representative institutions, such as the UK Parliament.

About the lecturer

Professor Andrew Blick has extensive experience working for think tanks in the UK Parliament and as an administrative assistant at No.10 Downing Street. He has advised democratic reform groups working in countries including Iran, Pakistan, Turkey and Ukraine; and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance in Stockholm. From 2010-15 he was research fellow to the first ever parliamentary inquiry into the possibility of introducing a written constitution for the UK, carried out by the House of Commons Political and Constitutional Reform Committee. In 2021 he began participation in an AHRC-funded project assessing the history of democracy from ancient times to the contemporary era, through considering written primary sources. He recently published ‘Electrified Democracy: the Internet and the United Kingdom Parliament in history’.