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Laurence Modrego of Fleishman-Hillard, a Brussels consultancy, thinks the rise of internet voting is “game-changing”. Activists used to need lots of time and money to gather support across international borders. Now planned internet-petitioning schemes make it easier. They also reduce the role of paid signature-gatherers, who plague Californian democracy (see our special report in this issue). But Bruno Kaufmann, president of IRI-E, says e-voting is not a means to speed up the democratic process. It can take many years for Swiss initiatives to pass into law. That works better than in California.

Ballot blocks
The golden state’s experience certainly casts a cloud over the enthusiasm for direct democracy. Citizen initiatives there are blamed for fiscal ruin and incoherent, contradictory mandates. Fans of direct democracy argue that California’s woes stem from the practice, not the concept. Some say that flaws in representative forms of democracy make reform essential. Mr Kaufmann says that voters increasingly want to engage in politics “issue by issue”. Greenpeace, founded in 1971, has nearly 3m paying members. Over the same period, trust in political parties has shrivelled. In America “independents” now outnumber Republicans or Democrats.

A. 어휘
consultancy 컨설턴트 업체. borders 국경. petitioning 請願(청원).
reduce 감소시키다. schemes 계획, 槪要(개요).
signature-gatherers 서명 수집가. plague 전염병, 병들게 하다, 괴롭히다.
The golden state=California. Citizen initiatives 市民發議(시민발의).
fiscal ruin 財政破綻(재정파탄). incoherent 일관성이 없는, 모순된, 뒤죽박죽인.
contradictory 矛盾的(모순적)인. mandates 명령(법령).
woes 禍(화), 災難(재난), 비애. stem from 由來(유래)하다.
practice 실행, 慣例(관례). concept 개념. flaws 결함.
representative forms 代議民主主義(대의민주주의)형식.
trust 신뢰. shrivel 줄어들다, 오그라들다. Republicans 공화당원(지지자).
Democrats 민주당원(지지자).