This book challenges the idea that representative democracy is the pinnacle of political development.

The authors argue that when citizens can directly initiate and veto constitutional changes, democracy enters a new phase—direct democracy—as a distinct political system. Using original data and comparisons across six countries and fifteen U.S. states, the book shows that direct democracies foster legitimacy, stability, and engagement. Combining historical, institutional, and empirical insights, the book reframes democracy’s future and offers a timely guide for expanding citizen power in the twenty-first century.

This book is of key interest to scholars and students of democratic regimes, reform and democratisation, and more broadly, to comparative politics.