Direct democracy

Direct democracy is the political idea of pure rule of the people. In its purest form, direct democracy consists of all citizens voting on every issue that comes up. In the real world, this has proven to not be viable, due to the fact that it takes a lot of time for each individual to vote on every issue. However, in NationStates, it can be used, either as part of a mix with a republic or other form of government or in a pure form.

Direct democracy can also be used as a mix with another type of government. This is true in many real-world states in the western United States, where the main form of government is a republic, but citizen initiatives, or laws proposed and voted on by the citizen body of a state, are permitted and legally binding. In NationStates, it is used to a greater extent in nations such as Ceorana, where the body of citizens forms the main "house" of the legislature, but an elected Senate also makes some decisions. Another form of integration of direct democracy with republicanism is in the case of referenda, where citizens may approve or dissapprove a piece of legislation approved in the legislature.