The use of direct democracy institutions and its influence on national security. Analysis of selected examples

Abstract

Although nowadays the idea of direct democracy has been dominated by the system of representative government, in modern countries a tendency to trust some power to the hands of citizens still can be observed. This solution guarantees each of the interest groups active involvement in political life and thanks to that they are able to have real impact on producing legal solutions in their country. On the other hand, decisions resulting from using participatory democracy institutions may generate several negative effects, both on the political and social levels. The paramount goal of the article is to present the impact of using tools of direct democracy on national security. Accordingly, the practices of using referendum in Switzerland, Great Britain, Catalonia, as well as legislative initiative in Poland were analyzsed, with special attention given to their impact on safety.