A Landsgemeinde, "cantonal assembly", in the canton of Glarus on 7 May 2006, Switzerland. Landsgemeinden are public voting gatherings, and are one of the oldest examples of direct democracy.
Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the electorate decides on policy initiatives without elected representatives as proxies. This differs from the majority of currently established democracies, which are representative democracies. The theory and practice of direct democracy and participation as its common characteristic constituted the core of the work of many theorists, philosophers, politicians, and social critics, among whom the most important are Jean-Jacques Rousseau, John Stuart Mill, and G.D.H. Cole.[1]
^Caves, R. W. (2004). Encyclopedia of the City. Routledge. p. 181.
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