Tharoor on Brexit Vote: Direct Democracy and Dangerous Outcomes

Brexit vote may result in many borders springing up across the world, cautions Shashi Tharoor.

Supporters of leaving the EU celebrate at a party hosted by Leave.EU in central London as they watch results come in after EU referendum, June 24, 2016. (Photo: AP)

(In a historic vote of sorts, Britain decided to quit the European Union, with Prime Minister David Cameron announcing he would not continue after October. As Britain’s referendum takes the entire world by shock, Shashi Tharoor writes on the fallout of direct democracy in a polity. Following is an excerpt of an article on Brexit vote.)

One issue that Indians would well find worth asking is whether the sort of “direct democracy” practised in Britain on Thursday offers more perils than benefits to nations.

Our political system, modelled on the British, requires our people to elect representatives who then, in their wisdom, are entrusted to take decisions and pass laws on their behalf. Other systems, notably the Swiss, refer all major decisions to referenda in which the public as a whole vote to determine policy outcomes.

Cameron’s awkward marriage of the two practices revealed a lack of political courage – his inability to face down anti-EU sentiment in his own party. But passing the buck to the general public deprives political leaders of the authority they have earned by responsible practice of their profession.

Power of Decision-Making

Referenda change the basis of national decision-making from politics to popular sentiment, and the sources of judgement from experts to demagogues. The considerations that normally weigh heavily in the minds of finance ministers, for instance, are wholly absent from the thoughts of voters, who are more likely to be reacting to the unaccustomed sound of foreign languages on the bus.

But if democracy is rule of, by and for the people, shouldn’t the people get to make the major decisions that affect their lives? Fair question, but the real answer is that in a representative democracy, they do – every five years in India -- by electing their representatives.

The people are sovereign in a democracy, but they exercise their sovereignty through a parliament that is meant to reflect their wishes. If politicians become out of touch with the people they claim to represent, they can be tossed out of office at the next election.

To make decisions like this by referendum is to abdicate a major responsibility of the political class – to make informed decisions on behalf of the people they serve.

Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron speaks outside 10, Downing Street, as his wife Samantha looks on Friday, June 24, 2016. (Photo: AP)

Brexit’s Ripple Effect

The pound sterling has already dropped 10 percent against the US dollar, and investors are bracing themselves for a market crash. The UK economy will wobble, whether or not it recovers soon enough, as Leave supporters optimistically claim it will.

Brexit will give new impetus to demands for separation from Scotland, which voted overwhelmingly to remain in the European Union. Cosmopolitan, European-accented London will change unrecognisably. Borders will spring up where they had disappeared, as with Ireland.

But these are not consequences that would have occurred to the grumpy senior who voted to restore Britain to an imagined state of half-remembered imperial glory.

Rule by Referendum

Brexit teaches us the dangers of rule by referendum. Letting policies with wide ramifications be settled by the emotions of a moment will only ensure that popular sentiment holds sway over informed decision-making. That is not what representative democracy is about.

David Cameron will have a long time available to contemplate his folly in plunging his country into the vortex of uncertainty out of short-term political expediency. For the rest of us, there are larger things to contemplate – the backlash against globalisation, the reassertion of old-fashioned nationalism in the face of eroding borders, the rise of anti-immigrant xenophobia and the risks of making national policy by populism. Donald Trump will be heartened by today’s result.

Just a year ago no one would have imagined that Europe, Britain and the US would constitute major threats to global geopolitical stability. Today, thanks to Brexit, they are. Pandora has popped out of her box, and no one knows where she will take the world.

(Former UN under-secretary-general, Shashi Tharoor is a Congress MP and an author)

Read Shashi Tharoor’s complete article on Brexit vote here.

Also read:

Tharoor on Brexit: Dangers of Rule by Emotions and Referendum