Significant changes to the referendum process are required to make direct democracy deliberative in practice

Despite their surface similarity, deliberative democracy and direct democracy often pull in different directions. In this context, Lawrence LeDuc asks how the conduct of referendums can be made more deliberative. He finds that the process is currently inhibited by the intrusion of politics, the absence of clarity, the amount and quality of information, and the degree of participation and engagement of citizens in the process.