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Newsletter N°30 - February 2023
EDITORIAL
Mexico: The new world leader in direct democracy?
Dear reader,
It is a fascinating country. With more than 126 million inhabitants. The biggest spanish speaking country in the world. The worlds 15th biggest economy. The country has 68 official languages and 32 autonomous states.
And then there is this news: no other country in the world has more procedures of modern direct democracy. With 82 different tools at the local level, 175 on the regional one and three nationwide mechanism of initiative and referendum Mexico beats even the most experienced direct democracy, Switzerland (153 legal designs in total).
This alone should be reason enough to not miss the most comprehensive Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy ever coming up in Mexico in just a few weeks. During not less than eight full days almost 1000 democracy supporters from 100 countries will gather on various spots of Mexico to look into the current practice and future opportunities of modern participatory and direct democracy worldwide: Guadalajara, Hidalgo, Mexico City and Mérida are a few of the cities this Forum will taken place.
This is a timely gathering indeed as democracy is under attack from autocratic and populist leaders in many places. Also within Mexico there are different forces at hand willing to undermine the independence of key democratic institutions like the ‘Instituto Electoral Nacional’, one of our local hosts. And there are criminal elements in action exercising brutal violence to silence both elected politicians, investigative journalists and active citizens.
With our next Forum we want to both honor the fascinating developments towards more democracy and support this country against its internal enemies of freedom and democracy. But we want also to show, that it makes a difference world wide what happens in a hotspot like Mexico.
Your participation and support is the key to success
Kind regards,
Bruno Kaufmann
Board Member, Democracy International
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Upcoming events and projects from our community
- Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy:
1-4 March, Mexico City, Mexico. Sign up
- Are elected presidents bad for democracy?
2 March, Casa de la Primera Imprenta de América, Mexico City, 7:00 pm CT. Sign Up
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| Conference on the Future of Europe, but actually make it inclusive |
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Since 2019, we have reported extensively on the developments around the Conference. On January 14th, the next phase of the Conference began: the Parliament for the Future of Europe
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Podcast: Rules of the Game
EPISODE 36: Current Developments of Direct Democracy in Germany with Jan Renner HERE
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| A Road to Independence |
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When the UK established the modern Scottish Parliament it allowed for a certain level of self-governance and autonomy by devolved powers. Those are, however, limited by the reserved matters, over which the Parliament does not have power.
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| Can we trust citizens to organise our power utilities through direct democracy? |
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There is a growing trend of remunicipalisation of utilities worldwide. Portland, one of the largest cities in the U.S state of Maine, is gearing up to take a citizens’ initiative to the polls in November 2023.
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| Puerto Rico prepares to possibly become new US state |
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In November 2023, Puerto Ricans may vote on whether they want to become the 51st US state or gain full independence. Washington – for the first time ever – has signalled a possible green light to allow for a binding vote.
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| ‘The world can’t ignore things that are happening in Nigeria’ |
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The upcoming elections in Nigeria are particularly important for young people, women and the population in unstable regions, explains Medinat Malefakis, an expert on security, terrorism and peacebuilding, at the federal technology institute ETH Zurich.
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