Pros & Cons of Direct Democracy

3. Advantage of Direct Democracy - public engagement

- people are more likely to engage in the political process if they believe their opinions will make a difference

1. Disadvantage of Direct Democracy - impractical

- too time consuming, expensive and impractical for frequent decisions -for big countries its especially difficult -the Cabin Office estimated that the total cost of 2016 EU referendum was £142.4m

5. Advantage of Direct Democracy - education

-citizens become educated in key political issues -AV referendum 2011 educated public on different kinds of voting

1. Advantage of Direct Democracy - Transparency

-ensures a strong level of openness between citizens and the government

4. Advantage of Direct Democracy - All votes count equally

-in representative democracies because some constituencies are larger than others, in the larger ones each vote will count for less -in direct democracy each vote weighs same towards important decisions being made

2. Disadvantage of Direct Democracy - can be manipulated

-phrasing of questions and timing of them can manipulate results -wording of 2016 EU Referendum was changed from "yes/no" to "remain/leave" since "yes/no" questions may benefit "yes" side -the electorate can be influenced by influential political figures/media -people may vote on emotions than considering all available options

2. Advantage of Direct Democracy - purest form

its the "purest" form of democracy and doesn't involve any interpretation

3. Disadvantage of Direct Democracy - voters may not be experts

voters may be less knowledgeable and less able to make informed decisions than a representative politician