# Organization: Mehr Demokratie e.V.

**Type:** Nonprofit / civic advocacy
**Founded:** 1988
**Base:** Berlin (federal office) + regional offices, Germany
**URL:** https://www.mehr-demokratie.de

**Mission:** Strengthen direct democratic participation and make political decision-making more transparent, accessible, and citizen-controlled.

**Problems Addressed:**
- **Primary:** PR-00002 (Illegitimate Domination) — advocates for structures in which citizens have direct, meaningful influence over decisions that affect them, beyond the four-year election cycle.
- **Secondary:** PR-00004 (Fascization) — democratic participation is the structural counter to authoritarian capture. When citizens have genuine power, authoritarian shortcuts are less attractive.

**Key Work:**
- **Volksentscheid** (referendum) advocacy — campaigns for binding citizens' initiatives at federal and state level. Germany has no federal referendum mechanism; Mehr Demokratie argues this is a democratic deficit.
- **Transparency** — campaigns for open government, lobby register, and citizens' access to political decision-making
- **Electoral reform** — advocates for more proportional, citizen-friendly electoral systems
- **Participatory budgeting** — promoting direct citizen involvement in public spending decisions

**Why direct democracy matters structurally:**
Representative democracy concentrates decision-making power in elected intermediaries who face accountability only at election intervals. Direct democratic instruments (referenda, citizens' initiatives, participatory budgeting) close this gap — making domination structures directly challengeable by citizens rather than manageable only through party intermediaries.

**Tension:** Direct democracy can be captured by majorities hostile to minority rights — Mehr Demokratie addresses this through constitutional safeguards in its proposals.

**Connection to Values:** VA-00002 (Authority Requires Justification), VA-00004 (Mutual Aid Over Market)
**Connection to Plans:** de-plan1-sven.md — MISSION (democratic capacity), STRATEGY 4 (conditions for participation)
**Connection to Models:** MO-00005 (Graeber/Anarchism — prefigurative politics, horizontal decision-making)