Direct Democracy

Dissatisfied with laws or officeholders between elections, many Americans have turned in recent years to tools that let voters act directly: the referendum, the recall, and the initiative. Thomas E. Cronin traces how these mechanisms have grown, from the recall petitions and local initiatives that cities and states have adopted to the referenda that put policy questions before the public. He draws on interviews with people who helped drive the recent surge in direct democracy.

Cronin does not treat these devices as flawless. He identifies real problems with them, but his overall judgment is that they have become a durable feature of American politics, and that on balance they have done more good than harm.