Let the People Rule

How Direct Democracy Can Meet the Populist Challenge

By: John G. Matsusaka

Narrated by: Christopher Grove

How referendums can diffuse populist tensions by putting power back into the hands of the people

Propelled by the belief that government has slipped out of the hands of ordinary citizens, a surging wave of populism is destabilizing democracies around the world. As John Matsusaka reveals in Let the People Rule, this belief is based in fact. Over the past century, while democratic governments have become more efficient, they have also become more disconnected from the people they purport to represent. The solution Matsusaka advances is familiar but surprisingly underused: direct democracy, in the form of referendums.

Drawing on examples from around the world, Matsusaka shows how direct democracy can bring policies back in line with the will of the people (and provide other benefits, like curbing corruption). Taking lessons from failed processes like Brexit, he also describes what issues are best suited to referendums and how they should be designed, and he tackles questions that have long vexed direct democracy: can voters be trusted to choose reasonable policies, and can minority rights survive majority decisions?

The result is one of the most comprehensive examinations of direct democracy to date - coupled with concrete, nonpartisan proposals for how countries can make the most of the powerful tools that referendums offer.

©2020 Princeton University Press (P)2020 Kalorama

Realistic and full of common sense.

Great practical book on how important direct democracy is, and how we can use the tools that currently exist in our systems today to expand the power of the people. When a country can average out the views of all of us, we get common sense and practical policy that works, rather than the policy of a minority of the type of people who become politicians (and the real people they too often work for: the lobbyists).

Important topic

Everyone needs to know about this option and why it makes sense for the world today.