Addressing the legitimacy crisis of representative democracy: Insights from switzerland's semi-direct democracy model

Dēmokratía combines the Greek words demos and krátos and means government by the people. It is a form of government that has been evaluated for 2500 years and is still in use today since it first appeared in the ancient Greek polis of Athens. Democracy, with its 2500 years of history, has reached this day due to the paradigm shift in the concept. Contrary to modern democracy, Athens' experience of democracy was indeed based on the rule of the people by the people. In this form of government, called direct democracy, Athenian male citizens were able to participate in legislature, executive, and judiciary activities through sortition. Following Athens' fall, democracy reappeared in the 17 and 18th centuries in a representative form. In this representative modern democracy, citizens' role has changed. Instead of directly participating in government, citizens are expected to elect their representatives in elections held at regular intervals and inspect them. This paradigm shift in democracy created professional politicians and legal experts and led governance to become an area of expertise. Citizens' limited role in the decision-making processes has been causing them to disengage from and feel indifferent towards the government. This situation creates a legitimacy crisis in modern representative democracies. This thesis' main research question is how to alleviate the legitimacy crisis that modern democracies face. This study suggests that the legitimacy crisis can be alleviated by embracing instruments that enable the direct participation of citizens in government. In the literature of constitutional law and political science, there is a democracy type called semi-direct democracy. In semi-direct democracy, there are instruments that enable citizens to participate directly in government such as citizens initiative, optional referendum, mandatory referendum, and recall. This thesis argues that semi-direct democracy instruments if implemented, can help to alleviate the legitimacy crisis. To test this hypothesis, this study analyzes a country that has been using these instruments since 1848: Switzerland. Despite the low participation in referendums and success rates, Switzerland's semi-direct democracy, allows citizens to be actively involved in decision-making processes. Through direct democracy instruments, Swiss citizens are able to propose a constitutional amendment, bring passed laws to a referendum, and decide important issues through mandatory referendum. Regardless of low participation in referendums and success rates, the mere existence of these instruments hinders citizens from feeling disengaged and indifferent to the government. Despite its potential for development, Switzerland's semi-direct democracy looks functional and effective in alleviating modern democracy's legitimacy crisis.