How to Topple a Dictator (Peacefully)

California residents passed Proposition 11, a redistricting reform ballot initiative, in 2008 and in 2010, voters strengthened that reform by passing a bill to allow an independent commission to redraw state and congressional lines. Fourteen people, who were selected from 30,000 applicants, spent a year holding public hearings across the state to make informed decisions on how to fairly redraw district maps. As a result, more than a dozen Congressional incumbents lost their seats, which was not an intentional outcome but rather what resulted from decisions made based on the public testimony they heard.

“Out with the racists, in with the feminists!” is the slogan of a new political party in Denmark. The Feministik Initiativ is “a new intersectional feminist party in Denmark.” It won 3,258 votes in the regional election. The party hopes to counter anti-immigrant sentiment, as well as fight for issues like equal pay and zero employment discrimination.

Almost half of U.S. states guarantee citizens’ rights to petition for ballot measures, but the coronavirus made gathering signatures in person infeasible. Massachusetts courts allowed electronic signatures, but other states have not approved virtual citizen initiative campaigns. Ballot initiatives allow citizens to advance solutions and enact structural changes without relying on support from elected officials. MA groups used DocuSign to gather 30,000 signatures to get a proposal for ranked choice voting on the ballot. Not all MA groups were able to quickly or successfully pivot to the e-signature process.

Voters Not Politicians is a grassroots initiative that, with the help of hundreds of volunteers, ran a successful campaign to defeat gerrymandering in Michigan. The state has a citizen-led ballot initiative option, so the group held townhall meetings and gathered over 410,000 voter signatures to get the initiative on the statewide ballot. The measure was challenged in courts, but the group raised funds for legal help and the initiative passed by a margin of 61-39 percent. The new law requires that an independent group of average citizens will decide district boundaries with full transparency.

Voters Not Politicians (VPN) is a grassroots initiative that, with the help over 4,000 volunteers who knocked on 125,000 doors and canvassed at public events, collected the 400,000 signatures needed to get an anti-gerrymandering initiative on the statewide ballot. The initiative passed with 61% of the vote in 2018 and requires district boundaries be drawn by average citizens. The group’s founder also started The People, another group to help residents in other states apply VPNs model to stop gerrymandering. So far, residents in Florida, Virginia, and New Hampshire are at various stages of applying the model.

While many politicians use political polarization to their advantage, communities across the world are finding that talking through the divide can actually have an impact on how someone votes. Polls conducted before and after community dialogue sessions show that perspectives of many of those participating changed, and in Ireland, many think this strategy is what resulted in the legalization of abortion.

Grassroots movements made up of ordinary citizens can go a long way in creating change. This article details several initiatives across Ohio that were led by citizens using a combination of lobbying, education, persistence, knowledge of government practices, and organization. Some things that were achieved using these methods are wage reimbursements and increased bus access.

In 1986, the city of Baltimore battled the Reagan administration over its local anti-apartheid ordinances—and won. How they prevailed may have important lessons for cities trying to resist Trump today; from his policies regarding immigration to climate change.

In Uganda, a country with high levels of corruption and political patronage, citizen-led grassroots efforts to root out graft and enforce accountability have sprung up across the country. “Village budget clubs,” trained by the Forum for Women in Democracy, learn about Uganda’s constitution, government budgeting and planning, and what is required of public officials. Club members then attend meetings, follow up with public officials, and fill out scorecards that rank lawmaker performance.

Paris has implemented the world's largest participatory budgeting program, allowing any resident aged 7 and older to propose and vote on city projects funded by municipal money. Since 2014, the city has allocated 5% of its total budget and has implemented 1,345 citizen-proposed projects over the past 10 years, including rooftop farms, community centers, and infrastructure for homeless residents. In addition, research shows areas with participatory budgeting see greater trust in local leadership and higher rates of civic engagement.