[Paul Nollen]

2010 : Een belangrijk jaar voor de Directe Democratie in Californie:
http://www.iri-europe.org/en/confere...rancisco-2010/

Around the world, direct democracy provides the only avenue for citizens to adopt new constitutions – or amend their old ones. At the same time, those constitutions govern direct democracy.
In 2010, Californians are expected to vote on ballot initiatives that would permit them to call a special convention to rewrite the constitution of the U.S.’s largest state. If approved by voters, it would be only the third such convention in California’s history – and the first since 1879. Among the parts of the constitution likely to see the most change: the rules that govern direct democracy. In San Francisco, exactly a century after a local lawyer was elected governor and quickly convinced Californians to adopt the most robust direct democracy in the Americas, we meet to answer two questions. What are the best ways to use direct democracy for the making and remaking of constitutions? And what systems and structures of direct democracy belong in those constitutions?

In San Francisco, where the Golden Gate Bridge marks the intersection of the continent and the ocean, academics, journalists and political leaders will gather to discuss another intersection: that between constitutions and direct democracy.

Paul