The Direct Democracy Global Network empowers voters worldwide to follow in the historic footsteps of Swiss voters and exercise political sovereignty for deciding what laws should be passed.
Swiss Roots of the Direct Democracy Global Network
Centuries ago, Alpine dwellers invented Switzerland's Direct Democracy, granting Swiss citizens political sovereignty.
Geneva's Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote treatises in the 18th century
prescribing conditions for exercising political sovereignty,
and preserving it.
Purpose of the Network
Encouraging political consensus building by voters worldwide with patented decision-assisting technology and tools.
The steps below describe how voters worldwide will be able to use historic Swiss direct democracy practices when the network is fully operational.
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Step 1. Join the Direct Democracy Global Network
Welcome to the network! You can join free of charge by creating your home page and profile by entering your sign-in username and password.
As a network member, you can use its direct democracy information and messaging tools and services, free of charge, to connect to like-minded voters. You can define and share your priorities and legislative agendas, and collaborate to enact your agendas.
You can join forces to create online political parties, voting blocs, and electoral coalitions. You can build consensus across partisan lines to set common legislative agendas, bridge divides, and determine who runs for office, who gets elected, and what laws are passed.
Network services include conducting initiatives and referendums, as the Swiss have been doing for centuries. You can access to the network's Fact Checker and Voting Utility to cast votes on a variety of proposals.
Step 2. Share Your Views and Priorities
Express your views, define your priorities, and create your own legislative agendas.
Save your priorities and agendas, and share them selectively, privately, and confidentially with individuals and groups you choose. Below are four methods.
(1) Describe any number of priorities in your own words, and set your own legislative agendas.
(2) Search the network priorities database listing priorities from a range of sources, and access web links to information about them. Select those that are similar to your own priorities, and what you want to happen legislatively.
(3) View priorities and agendas of individual network members who agree to share them, and select those you prefer. Names are not provided.
(4) Choose your legislative priorities and agendas from those of political parties, voting blocs, and electoral coalitions hosted on the network that agree to share them.
Step 3. Build Consensus and Set Common Agendas
In addition to defining your own priorities and setting your own agendas, you can connect to other network members to set common legislative agendas including priorities you share.
You can actively participate in collective efforts to build consensus across partisan lines. You can conduct online dialogues and debates, and reconcile divergent perspectives and objectives.
During your participation, you can clarify the meaning of your priorities and show how they resemble and/or diverge from other participants' priorities. You can use the network's Fact Checker to distinguish facts from misinformation.
You and other network participants can decide, at any point in time, to update and vote online to determine which priorities to include in common legislative agendas, using the network's Voting Utility.
Step 4. Form Online Voting Blocs
You can collaborate with like-minded network members who espouse legislative priorities similar to yours, to take advantage of the network's political organizing tools.
You can transform your personal networks into voting blocs and host and co-manage them on the network. Together you can utilize the network's direct democracy tools and services to carry out tasks that are vital to fully functioning democracies.
Your blocs can function uniquely online within the network, or operate outside the network in locations and forms chosen by the members. They can choose to join existing blocs, parties, and coalitions, online and offline, and/or opt to work independently.
Step 5. Merge Blocs into Parties and Coalitions
You can merge your voting blocs hosted on the network with political parties and coalitions also hosted on the network, so they can build consensus across partisan lines and increase numbers of voters in their electoral base.
You can also decide to form your own political parties and electoral coalitions.
They can be organized informally, and create temporary ad hoc alliances with other parties.
In addition, you can organize them formally and register them officially with local governmental election agencies, to enable them to fully participate in electoral processes throughout election cycles.
Since their members can freely define their priorities and set their legislative agendas without regard to doctrines or ideologies, they can function autonomously and adhere exclusively to the decisions of their members.
Step 6. Evaluate and Nominate Electoral Candidates
Thanks to the beneficial reversal of traditional practices, you and network voters can use the Direct Democracy Global Network to evaluate and nominate electoral candidates of your choice, rather than be limited to choosing among candidates already on the ballot.
You can collaborate with network members to identify and evaluate prospective candidates in depth, according to criteria of their choosing.
You can scrutinize candidates' prior activities, votes, and priorities to evaluate whether they align with your own priorities, and those of your voting blocs, political parties, and electoral coalitions.
In addition, you can conduct online interviews with prospective candidates, and evaluate first hand whether they appear likely to be consensus-builders if elected, and whether they will reach across partisan divides to prevent stalemates.
Step 7. Place Your Candidates on the Ballot
Laws, rules, and regulations for placing candidates on election ballots vary widely. They can be quite cumbersome, and require close and continuous scrutiny.
These complications can result from deliberate efforts to obstruct competitive electoral races by keeping voters from having fair chances to elect candidates of their choice.
Fortunately, there will be large numbers of election experts who are members of the Direct Democracy Global Network who will share their expertise with you and other members to ensure free and fair elections.
One of the most important steps is planning ahead and constantly monitoring changes in official election laws, regulations, and procedures, to ensure you and network members, and your voting blocs, political parties, and electoral coalitions, are able to get your candidates' names on official primary ballots.
Step 8. Elect Candidates by Raising Funds Online
A strategically important key to winning elections is to raise funds to finance your campaigns that enable you to reach out to as many voters as you can. You can seek funding from sources inside and outside the network.
Billions of dollars are raised and spent during every election cycle. There are a variety of channels of communication that you can use to direct such funds to your campaigns.
The success of your fundraising efforts might be facilitated if prospective donors are informed of your membership in the Direct Democracy Global Network.
Increasing numbers of politically engaged individuals, groups, and organizations are devoting their time, energy, and donations to strengthening and re-invigorating democratic electoral and legislative processes and institutions.
Step 9. Pressure Elected Representatives
You and the network members of your political parties, voting blocs, and electoral coalitions can actively participate in post-election decision-making in all branches of government, by using direct democracy tools provided by the network.
You can conduct petition drives, referendums, initiatives, and recall votes, publicize the results, and use them to transmit written mandates to decision-makers during all phases of governmental decision-making processes.
These mandates will reflect the needs and demands of the public and their constituents during all phases of post-election decision-making.
Your capabilities and those of network members to determine the outcomes of past and future elections will prompt decision-makers to heed your demands.
Step 10. Forge Cross-National Coalitions
You can join with network members to design and implement life-preserving policies and plans, such as curbing climate disruption, and collectively devising common peace-making plans worldwide.
By connecting online with network members and voters where you live, as well as across nation-state frontiers, you can collaborate to design and enact peace-making plans to resolve confrontations and conflicts worldwide. Voters living in different countries often experience similar needs, crises, and emergencies, even though their governments may tend to disagree.
You can use the network to connect to voters with experiences similar to yours. Network tools enable you to collectively create online political parties, voting blocs, and electoral coalitions.
You can use network agenda-setting, consensus building, and political organizing tools to create influential common fronts. These fronts and their voters can induce lawmakers to enact vital legislation, such as collectively formulated peace-making plans and climate protection policies, within and across frontiers.
Resources
Lewis Waller. 2023. How Switzerland Changed the World. YouTube.
Clay Shirky. 2008. Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations. Penguin Group. Wikipedia.
Beau Sievers, et.al. 2022. How Consensus-Building Conversation Changes Our Minds and Aligns Our Brains. Europe PMC. September 17, 2022.
Peter Russell. The Global Brain. Wikipedia.
Dacher Keltner. 2015. Survival of the Kindest - YouTube. University of California/Berkeley.
Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA). The Swiss Political System.
"Switzerland is governed under a federal system at three levels: the Confederation, the cantons and the communes. Thanks to direct democracy, citizens can have their say directly on decisions at all political levels. This wide range of opportunities for democratic participation plays a vital role in a country as geographically, culturally and linguistically varied as Switzerland."
The Direct Democracy Global Network combines Swiss democratic tradition with patented AI technology to help voters worldwide build cross-partisan consensus around shared legislative priorities.
A computer-implemented social network using AI and machine learning to help voters define legislative priorities, fact-check proposals, debate issues, and build consensus across partisan lines — enabling voting blocs and electoral coalitions to enact common agendas.
US Patent No. 11,935,141 · View Patent →
Electoral and legislative processes generate partisan conflicts that remain unresolved due to a lack of cross-partisan consensus-building mechanisms. Voters lack the tools to define shared priorities.
Our patented network combines AI-based machine learning with agenda-setting, consensus-building, and political organizing mechanisms — giving voters decision support to build coalitions across party lines.
Following Rousseau’s Social Contract and Swiss direct democracy, DDGN gives citizens the tools to initiate referendums, build agendas, and elect lawmakers who enact voter-defined priorities.
The network connects voters within and across election districts and national boundaries, building consensus with the cross-national scope needed for 21st-century democracy.
Users include individual voters, lawmakers, candidates, political parties, civil society organizations, and NGOs — all able to access AI decision support and participate in the consensus process.
DDGN is in its founding phase. Early participants help pilot the platform in their communities and shape the standards for direct democracy practice globally.
Voters use DDGN’s AI system to evaluate, debate, and rank these priorities — building a shared legislative agenda reflecting genuine democratic consensus.
Prioritizes direct provision of resources necessary for survival and stability, ensuring a safety net for all citizens.
Adequate Lifelong Basic Income ensuring people can pay for housing, food, medical care, and education. Addresses poverty, economic inequality, UBI, and safety nets.
Livelihoods (wages, cost of living), Housing & Urban Development (affordability, homelessness), and Agriculture & Food Policy (food security, hunger elimination).
Focuses on the physical and intellectual well-being of the population.
Health & Welfare, Public Health & Disease Prevention, Mental Health & Substance Abuse, and Reproductive Rights & Healthcare.
K-12 Education (funding, curriculum), Higher Education (tuition, student debt), Arts, Culture & Humanities.
Social Security & Retirement, Aging & Elder Care, Child Welfare & Family Services, Veterans Affairs.
Drug Policy & Decriminalization (treatment focus), Tobacco, Alcohol & Substance Regulation (public health).
Manages broader financial structures, market regulations, and workforce protections.
Economy (growth, inflation, national debt), Tax Policy & Reform, Financial Regulation & Banking.
Corporate Governance, Antitrust & Competition Policy, Trade Policy & Globalization, Small Business & Entrepreneurship.
Labor Rights & Workplace Policy, Consumer Protection, Intellectual Property Rights.
Covers the machinery of democracy, civil liberties, and the legal system.
Federal Government structure, Local/State Government, Electoral Reform & Voting Rights, Media & Press Freedom.
Civil & Political Rights, Privacy, Racial Justice, Women’s Rights, LGBTQ+ Rights, Indigenous Rights, Disability Rights, Religious Freedom.
Criminal Justice & Law Enforcement, Police & Judicial Reform, Incarceration & Prison Reform, Gun Policy & Second Amendment.
Manages the physical world, utilities, and ecological sustainability.
Climate Change (emissions, renewables), Environmental Protection (pollution, biodiversity), Animal Rights & Welfare.
Water Resources & Management, Ocean & Maritime Policy, Land Use & Conservation.
Infrastructure & Public Works (bridges, grids), Transportation (transit, aviation), Energy Policy.
Telecommunications Policy (broadband, net neutrality), Postal Service & Communication Infrastructure.
Disaster Preparedness & Emergency Management — resilience against natural disasters.
Addresses national safety, international relations, and technological advancement.
Technology & Digital Rights (AI regulation, digital privacy), Science & Research Funding, Space Policy & Exploration.
Defense spending and counter-terrorism, Immigration & Border Policy (border management, asylum, citizenship pathways).
International Relations — diplomacy, foreign aid, and global alliances.
DDGN draws on a lineage of thinkers, events, and institutions that built the world’s most mature direct democracy — now adapted for the global stage.
Mountain communities in what is now Switzerland created cooperative governance structures giving ordinary citizens direct say over collective decisions — the earliest roots of modern direct democracy.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, born in Geneva, published his landmark treatise arguing that political authority derives solely from the people — and that citizens must actively exercise sovereignty to preserve it.
Switzerland’s modern federal constitution was adopted, enshrining referendums and citizen initiatives as core instruments of democracy at both the cantonal and federal levels.
Switzerland granted citizens the formal right to propose constitutional amendments through the initiative process — cementing it as the world’s leading laboratory for participatory governance.
USPTO grants Patent #11,935,141 — a decision-assisting AI system for voter electoral and legislative consensus building. The technological foundation of DDGN is established.
The Direct Democracy Global Network is now adapting proven Swiss practices — combined with patented AI consensus technology — to empower voters everywhere to exercise genuine political sovereignty.
Be among the founding members shaping the platform and bringing Swiss-style voter sovereignty to your community.
Early members pilot the AI consensus platform, help define the 20 priority categories in their country’s context, and set the global standard for direct democracy practice.
Contact: [email protected]
Lead pilot programs in your city or region using the DDGN framework and AI tools.
Study, document, and improve direct democracy outcomes across political contexts.
Build on and integrate with DDGN’s patented AI consensus infrastructure.
Spread the case for direct democracy and voter sovereignty in your country.
Use the network to understand voter priorities and build cross-partisan coalitions.
Connect your organization’s agenda to the broader voter consensus-building process.