Plebiscitary Democracy

It comes from the practice of direct participation of the Roman plebeians in assembly to legislate. It is a form of direct democracy. However, many writers and observers have designated plebiscitary democracy those regimes that use mobilisational strategy to get affirmation to their policies, offices and legislation. Here, participation of the people is coercively managed, e.g., affirmation of office by one-person ruling over an extended period. According to this form, Hitler’s mobilisation and referendum can be termed as plebiscitary and so could be Saddam Hussein’s in Iraq when he ruled and Muammar Al-Qadafi’s in Libya or Fidel Castro’s in Cuba.