N5 – Module 2 Financial Decision-Making in a Participatory Democracy
As mentioned above, although participatory democracy is advisable because it follows the principles of pure democracy as quoted in the definition in the Introduction, it is very impractical and would be very expensive to implement. Most modern governments attempt to implement at least some of the principles of participatory democracy into their ideology; this is done through public meetings, especially on financial matters.
In some cases, when a government is being criticised about an important issue such as the death sentence, abortion, etc. and it finds divisions amongst its elected representatives, it may decide to hold a referendum. Tis allows each citizen of a country an opportunity to vote about a particular issue.
Each time a country has an election or holds a referendum it costs a great deal of money. Imagine the cost of allowing 20 million people to say either Yes or No about all issues. So it is important to remember that although this style of democracy is the purest, it works well only in very small communities.
Case Study: Referendums in South Africa To date, South Africa has had three referendums, all of them during apartheid rule (before 1994). Te first referendum was on the 5th October 1960 and asked the question: “Are you in favour of a Republic for the Union”. Te vote was for South Africa to abandon its status as a Commonwealth realm and become its own republic separate from Great Britain. 52% of the population voted yes, while 48% voted no.
Te second referendum was held in 1983 to determine whether a tri-cameral Parliament should be in place to include Coloureds and Indians in Parliament. Te yes vote won by 66% to 33%. Te third and perhaps most famous referendum was held in 1992, and asked white voters “Do you support the continuation of the reform process which the State President began on February 2, 1992, and which is aimed at a new Constitution through negotiation?” Te yes vote won with 69% of the vote with 85% of whites voting, which ultimately helped pave the way for apartheid to be liſted.
Most modern governments have adopted what is known as a representative democracy – please see next page for a full explanation. Te decision-making process for public finance in a democracy must comply with democratic values and principles – see 10 Democratic Principles three pages back – there must be dialogue between the taxpayers, decision-makers and users of services. How is this done?
Participatory democracy is effective only in a small community where the goal would be to have decision-making which is “closer to the people”. And this means there is an attempt to move towards decentralisation of political power (taking power away from central government), and to have an increase (as much as possible) in citizen participation. It is vital that all citizens take an active part in the running of their communities in all democracies; but here, specifically, participation might mean actually physically voting in as many issues as possible: logistically difficult and expensive. However, see the Case Study: Switzerland.
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