A Quality Democracy for a New State
“A Quality Democracy for a New State” is the most recent study by the Centre Maurits Coppieters, focusing on direct democracy and the democratic drafting of constitutions.
The author of this paper, Dr. Jaume Lopez, examines the possibility of strengthening democracy and its three main constituents: representation, participation and direct democracy, though mainly focusing on advancements in the latter. The aim of this study is, therefore, to offer tools with which direct democracy can be improved. Special emphasis is put on the case of Catalonia. The study also gives insights from different contexts in which direct democratic elements are currently applied, ranging from the case of Switzerland to that of the United States of America. By focusing not only on improvements in direct democratic elements, but also on the democratic drafting of constitutions, the study reflects upon the content and the procedure of how a constitutional convention in the 21st century should look like.