Culture

Přímá demokracie a brexit

Jul 7, 2016 Peter Singer

PRINCETON – Jakou roli by měla hrát v demokracii referenda? Tato otázka se stala relevantnější než kdykoliv dříve po referendu o „brexitu“ ve Velké Británii, v němž voliči poměrem hlasů 52% ku 48% rozhodli o vystoupení země z Evropské unie – a postarali se o náhlý konec politické kariéry premiéra Davida Camerona.

Odpůrci brexitu od té doby naznačují, že jelikož referenda nemají v Británii žádné ústavní zakotvení a konečné rozhodnutí musí učinit parlament, měl by se výsledek všelidového hlasování ignorovat. Mají pravdu?

Bez ohledu na to, co si myslíme o vystoupení Británie z EU, si můžeme položit dvě další otázky, jednu všeobecnou a jednu týkající se konkrétně brexitu. Za prvé: do jaké míry by měli mít občané demokratické země možnost rozhodovat přímo v referendu, a nikoliv prostřednictvím svých volených zástupců? A za druhé konkrétněji: měli by se britští zákonodárci cítit vázáni výsledkem referenda z 23. června?

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Peter Singer

Writing for PS since 2001
217 Commentaries

Peter Singer, Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University, is Founder of the nonprofit organization The Life You Can Save. His books include Animal Liberation, Practical Ethics, The Ethics of What We Eat (with Jim Mason), Rethinking Life and Death, The Point of View of the Universe, co-authored with Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek, The Most Good You Can Do, Famine, Affluence, and Morality, One World Now, Ethics in the Real World, Why Vegan?, and Utilitarianism: A Very Short Introduction, also with Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek. In April 2021, W.W. Norton published his new edition of Apuleius’s The Golden Ass. In 2013, he was named the world's third "most influential contemporary thinker" by the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute.

The Rise of Demotic Democracy in Europe
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Politics 8

The Rise of Demotic Democracy in Europe

Mark Leonard sees Brexit as the earthquake that will trigger a devastating tsunami of referenda in the EU.
The Referendum Charade
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Politics 22

The Referendum Charade

Ian Buruma warns that populist demands for "direct democracy" often end up empowering authoritarian leaders.

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0 Comments on this paragraph, 14 Comments on this article

johnny dawson Sep 21, 2016

One solution to the problem would be to eliminate the secret ballot. If the Brexit in hindsight turns out bad, the voters responsible for it, given that without a secret ballot they potentially can be identified, can be taxed or otherwise held to indemnify those who were against it. Any other system results in power without responsibility.
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Simon Barnard Jul 19, 2016

Many of those who voted for Brexit were voting against the EU as an institution and also against all other government/institutions that ruled them. They were apportioning blame for the unprecedented levels of inequality squarely at these institutions' door.
Generally, institutions such as the EU and the British government are populated by the by the privileged few who are on the right side of the inequality (perhaps they even protect it). This inequality is not only economic but also of opportunity (including education). So by giving the choice solely to parliamentary representatives and other experts (who have seen the inequalities grow over the last 40 years) would be undemocratic.
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Christine Tod Jul 10, 2016

If you want to know whether people want direct democracy, ask them.
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Christine Constable Jul 10, 2016

I think there is a huge misunderstanding about why Cameron called this Referendum. IT WAS NOT TO APPEASE THE TORIES!

The UK population have never been given a vote on handing their Sovereignty to the EU FACT. The only vote we had was to join the European Economic Community back in the 70s. I am sure if Americans were asked if they wanted to join a purely Trade Body that then Morphed into a Sovreignty stealing Governing Body, based out of Havanna the Americans too would have something to say about it and a Referendum would be least of the things the Americans would have demanded - probably sending a few destroyers over there and flexing the US muscles would be the order of the day.

Why can't the Americans (and supposedly intelligent Americans) understand that what BREXIT was all about was the simple right of a Sovereign Nation NOT to be wiped from the Map. I do not exaggerate about wiping from the Map. Indeed an EU map was produced which simply had the UK as 12 Regions. Wales; Scotland; Nine Regions in England and Northern Irelandhttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1382263/The-EU-trying-wipe-map-Brussels-merges-England-France-new-Arc-Manche-region--FLAG.html

I can just see the Americans taking it lying down if the USA was merged with North and South America and it ceased to be seen as a unified country - damn cheek!

The British are a sovreign nation, we were never asked if we wanted to give our freedom to the EU - we demanded a vote have had vicious political in fighting caused by the EU and Cameron (poor sap) was the last politician in a long line of shirkers to say ok we will have this damn vote. We had it and the long festering wound of the EU was lanced the British in the face of vile and bad tempered threats from the USA ; Europe and our own mainstream politicians expected we would fall into line for fear of the unknown - we didn't we gave the proverbial finger to those who would silence us; enslave us; disempower us and like the battles we have faced off in the last Century - we proved that faith in ourselves as a people and a nation is strong and together we can face down oppression and statism and the cloying communism of the EU which plunders the wealthy to support the ignorant; lazy and incompetent. We work hard for our money and we are not going to poor it down the black hole that is the EU. It has failed on just about every performance objective - Brexit was a vote of no confidence.
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koen van peteghem Jul 9, 2016

sometimes it helps to extrapolate the extreme of a given and see what it wold mean. Suppose we hold a referendum on waging nuclear war. The result is a 1 vote in favour. What do we do?
- Alisdair Hamilton-Wilkes Jul 10, 2016
  
  Your point is a good one. If there was such a referendum I cannot imagine it getting many votes. Voters are not just taxpayers, as economists see them, they are mothers and fathers.
  
  The true guarantee of peace in Western Europe has been universal suffrage democracy. People don't vote for destructive wars. They also don't tend to vote to be run by an elite group of statist civil servants based in another country.
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Peter Cullen Jul 9, 2016

Edmund Burke, interestingly, as well as being Irish and a supporter of The American Revolutionaries, also opposed The French Revolution which led to his being the Leading figure of the Extreme Conservative faction of the "Old Whigs"; so one could imagine that .... Well, one can imagine what one wants, but it is to little avail... Burke is long gone, but, if one draws a comparison between L' Ancien Régime and The European Parliament in Brussels one might be surprised at the similarities... Both are unelected, and both rule as Monarchs and their Minions... Totally Undemocratic! The only similarity between The European "Parliament" and Democracy is the abuse of the Word ... "It" is associated with Democracy.

As for Burke's Electorate accepting his Philosophy enunciated in 1774, he lost his seat! That was Democracy at work; that he returned to Parliament was by the Good Grace of The Marquess of Rockingham, who controlled another seat.

If only Political Power and Influence, and education were to be used solely for the General Benefit of Mankind, then perhaps those less fortunate by birth-right or by education might trust in either Elected Politicians or Monarchs or other Rulers, even some Dictators are Benevolent; however, such unfortunately is not the case... Self Interest seems genuinely to be the Sole Guiding light of the majority of those Elected; and such is perceived by "The Common Sense" of the Electorate which is something sadly lacking in a majority of the Self Seeking Elected... Leaving many countries governed by Democracies being led by well educated Idiots lacking in both common sense and a sense of concern for those in their electorates whose livelihoods and quality of life have been severely effected by their legislative enactments or worse by those of an Unelected Elitist Fascist Parliament in The EU.

But Edmund Burke is a great figure to use for drawing attention to Brexit; his support for the American Revolutionists and his opposition to the French Revolution and The Rights of Men, surely make him noteworthy. The time of his Life, and the events occurring whilst he was Elected surely also have a lot in common with current events; so thank you for mentioning him and his philosophy, and drawing my attention to that period of History.

He also had something to do with Corn, that In 1772 Burke was instrumental in the passing of the Repeal of Certain Laws Act 1772; which means perhaps that he would be taking a much more serious view of "GMO Corn" and Monsanto and the FDA in the USA... But that is another Revolution in the making!
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Paul Daley Jul 8, 2016

The problem is less with direct democracy than it is with he fact that direct democracy now can act on only one side of the question. If a vote for Brexit in Britain had to be ratified by a separate EU-wide referendum on Britain's exit, the result might have been very different. And even if the EU's voters ratified the British result, the climate for exit negotiations might have been more favorable.
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Curtis Carpenter Jul 8, 2016

Plato was skeptical of direct democracy long before Burke weighed in, and representative democracy has become an object of skepticism as so many of our elected officials today seem to imagine themselves the embodiment of Plato's "philosopher kings" rather than as the humble representatives of their constituencies.

If parliament wanted to forbid the people from having a direct say on so important an issue as Brexit (thus assuring that their own superior wisdom would hold sway) wouldn't the time to have done so been _before_ the votes were counted?

Anyway, surely anyone with a university affiliation realizes that drawing a correlation between education and wisdom (political or otherwise) will be taken as cause for great mirth in many quarters. God knows Yale and Oxbridge have produced some remarkable fools so far in our current century.
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M M Jul 7, 2016

Incidentally, if the people, any people were to govern themselves (and in some countries where parliaments and governments are on a stand still, this has transpired to be a success), there would be no longer any need for expensive public representatives, no need for civil servants, no need for perks and for private jets (the existing one can always be used by the populous), no need for tax free salaries and for air miles, no need for PR companies and expensive consultants / lobbyists, etc.
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Steve Hurst Jul 7, 2016

The problem was not the referendum. The problem was the appalling leadership by Cameron that created the referendum as a sop to a lobby in his party and the then appallingly ineffective presentation of the outcome risks. Insipid leadership by both major party leaders was not going to convince anybody
- Christine Constable Jul 10, 2016
  
  Get your fact right. We had to create a new political party to get that Referendum vote and UKIP pushed it to the fore and Cameron was the last in the line that finally gave in to the inevitable.
  
  The British Constitution forbids the passing of our sovereignty to any third party without a vote - previous UK politicians have ignored this clause because they knew very well the British would not give up their democracy without a fight. Cameron did the decent thing and the British did the bravest thing - it gave two fingers to those who would denude us of our right to vote out incompetents - and the EU is about as incompetent as you can get. I think what you are saying about the referendum is treasonous - the British have every right to vote on their future and any suggestion we should just become a vassal of the EU without even having voted for it is a disgusting betrayal of the millions who died to protect our rights and freedoms. We are a democracy and we demanded a vote on the future of the UK in the EU no more no less. The majority has spoken we want out. The EU abused their position by giving Cameron a pitiful offer on over population controls and rules we needed to stop us being exploited. We got short shrift and threats. In return the British people gave a firm vote to leave. Had there been no threats the numbers voting leave would have probably been in the high 60s and even 70+% - the EU has done very little for the UK and is presiding over chaos - the UK had no choice but to tell it like it is. If not us WHO? If not now WHEN?
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M M Jul 7, 2016

From a constitutional perspective, only elected representatives of the people can pass laws or regulations. The people, any people do not and cannot have such a function delegated to them under whatever umbrella. Since Mr. Commander In Chief, turned, Preacher, turned comedian came to power, his aim was to pass the buck to the tax payers and therefore any responsibility or accountability to the the citizens themselves. Obviously, all other world leaders blindly followed his line of thinking. Well, for whatever it is worth, the buck stops with them and them only and by them I mean the elected leadership and the elected representatives. Referendums, or any process that seeks the opinion of the electorate is just consultative and has no legal bearing whatsoever unless the elected representatives of the electorates accept to ratify the outcome of such a process. Regarding the UK, it shows from the legal opinion of the legal team advising the UK government what a dismal situation the UK is.
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Přímá demokracie a brexit

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