Author:

Abstract

Weber’s judgement on the types of immediate democracy is ambivalent; he recognizes the reduction of institutional mediation and power as well as the possibility of a more direct intervention by the people on the one hand, but he also underlines the major difficulties to find a balance between political decision making and administration, or between the exercise of power and its control. The analysis focuses on the most relevant types of immediate democracy: direct democracy, the democracy of the street, and plebiscitary democracy, and dedicates a particular attention to the referendum as the most significant instrument of immediate democracy in Weber’s view. The aim is to ascertain which aspects do not find a satisfying solution in the immediate forms of democracy, and therefore require and legitimise at the same time an institutional mediation which is fully accomplished only by a strong and effective parliament.

Keywords: Max Weber, democracy, immediate democracy, direct democracy, democracy of the street, plebiscitary democracy, parliamentary democracy, referendum, parliament