Direct Democracy Practices of Local Authorities in Turkey

Introduction

All administrations at all levels exist for the prosperity, peace and happiness of people. Out of different regimes that were adopted for governing people, democracy has proven to be the most effective and efficient one that is based on the consent of the majority of people. Direct democracy, an early form of democracy, which was applied in city states of ancient Athens, is at the agenda of politics again, especially at local level. The reason why direct democracy has been remembered in recent decades might lie in the limitations of the representative democracy, which is the most applied form of democracy. People do not want to voice their ideas about the cities or countries where they live just once in four or five years, by casting their votes in the ballot box anymore. They desire to be involved in decision-making mechanisms, at least for relatively more important issues that might have direct effect over their lives. That is probably one of the reasons why we witness low voter turnout especially in democratic and wealthy countries, where the average voter turnout can be as low as around 20% as it is observed in local elections of the USA, and around 35% in the UK. We also witness sharp decrease in political party membership. For example, in Europe, around 15% of the electorate were party members in 1980s, which plummeted to around 5% today (Biezen & Poguntke, 2014). Political parties in France, UK and Italy have lost 1 to 1,5 million members in the last three decades (Biezen, Mair, & Poguntke, 2011).

Of course, there might be other reasons why peoples’ interests in politics and elections decrease such as low trust in politics and politicians, but it is generally accepted that representative democracy, in its pure form, does not answer people’s desire to be part of decision-making mechanisms, at least for some critical issues. Examples like Italy’s five star movement, which was founded by Italian comedian Beppe Grillo and digital marketing specialist Gianroberto Casaleggio in 2009 as an ‘anti-politics’ and ‘anti-establishment’ party, show the decreasing trust and interest in the current representative democracies. This party managed to get 9 million votes in the national elections of 2013 (Tronconi, 2016). According to many commentators, the real success of this movement lies in not only people’s distrust of the established political parties but also in engaging the ordinary people in politics through digital technology (Natale & Ballatore, 2014). Low turnouts in elections, declining party influence on society, rise in ‘anti-politics’ movements and plummeting membership rates necessitate political parties and politicians think over reconsidering the current structure of democratic institutions and the relations with the electorate.

Many governments at different levels try to overcome the limitations of representative democracy by introducing some innovative and additional methods that allow people to be part of the decision-making mechanism and increase the legitimacy of the political activities and decisions. Referendums, citizen surveys, advisory councils made up of representatives of community members are among the democratic innovations that aim to empower people, strengthen public confidence and engage them in policy-making process. These tools are not there as alternatives to representative democracy. They aim at reinforcing democracy, which means a “government of the people, by the people and for the people”, and increasing people’s participation in administration as well as government responsiveness. Thanks to the developments in the field of information and communication technology, it is easier to apply these democratic tools, which have already been conceptualized as e-democracy (Grönlund, 2002). We observe that local governments apply tools of direct democracy more than central governments thanks to their proximity to local people and low scale. People are more interested in decision-making processes that have direct effects on their daily lives.