Demokracja bezpośrednia w Wenezueli. Determinanty prawne
Direct democracy in Venezuela. Legal determinants

Summary/Abstract: Both the introduction of the mechanisms of direct democracy into the legislative process and their application in Venezuela are the result of many years of political discourse and radical voicing of public expectations, the origins of which stretch back to the Fourth Republic. The legal solutions in respect of civic participation were introduced into the Constitution and legislation of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in order to respond to the crisis in the political system and party democracy, the legitimacy of which was being questioned. The subject of the analysis undertaken in the article are the mechanisms and institutions of direct democracy applied in Venezuela on the strength of the provisions of the law in force and introduced under the transformation of that state’s socio-political system. The mechanisms of direct democracy which have been instituted can be defi ned as advanced and as radically broadening the opportunities for genuine civic participation. A particular feature of Venezuela’s basic law is the fact that it sets direct democracy in opposition to the representative form. The legal solutions adopted sanction the functioning of a political system which is fi rst and foremost grounded in the executive authorities’ mobilisation and organisation of society within the structures of a controlled direct participation.

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