Political Conflict and Direct Democracy
Explaining Initiative Use 1920‐2011
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6384258 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lucas Leemann (0000-0001-5201-869X, Department of Political Science University College, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 596-616 |
| Publication date | 2015-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Swiss Political Science Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1424-7755 • E-ISSN: 1662-6370 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/spsr.12190 |
| OpenAlex | W2172469327 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 27 |
| References cited | 43 |
Political competition is the engine for representative democracy. Within the representation mechanics I look at the political space, the dimensionality of political conflict, and how parties try to affect the relative salience of different dimensions by using direct democratic institutions. The leading question is how we can explain initiative use. The paper asks how the costs and benefits of using initiatives affect parties when they decide whether to use this instrument or not. The major argument is that when party competition increases, we will see higher initiative frequencies because parties try to affect the saliency of specific issues to increase their electoral bases. I analyze annual submission rates, the content of proposed initiatives, and the changing share of partisan actors behind initiatives. The findings highlight that the consequences of direct democratic institutions go beyond changing policy outcomes. For the specific case at hand, Switzerland from 1920 to 2011, it is shown that despite numerous opposite claims, there has been no underlying change in strategy or equilibrium but just a slow evolution of underlying factors such as institutional requirements and partisan competition
Affect (linguistics · Argument (complex analysis · Competition (biology · Democracy · Direct democracy · Economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Representation (politics · Salience (neuroscience · Sociology · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Political Influence and Corporate Strategies · Psychology · Social Policy and Reform Studies
Wahlen ohne Kampf? - Schweizer Parteien auf Stimmenfang, 1947–1983
Supporting Deliberative Systems with Referendums and Initiatives
Level Playing Field or Politics as Usual? Equalization–Normalization in Direct Democratic Online Campaigns
Do They Want, Can They, and Have They Been Asked? Generational Differences in Reasons for Non‐Voting in Switzerland
Equality via bottom-up referendums? The role of initiators
The turnout myth and referendum voting in the United States
Knowing and distrusting
Switzerland's Regulatory European Integration
On popular votes and the problems of self-government
Why do parties participate in referendum campaigns? Evidence from Switzerland
The ‘participationnist state’ and the ‘apathetic citizen’
A political-economic analysis of Swiss referendums 1848 to 2022
Taking the initiative
Direct Democracy in the Hands of the Opposition Under Alternating Ideological Coalitions in Uruguay (1985–2022)
The Electoral Returns of Party-Sponsored Citizen Legislative Initiatives
Municipality‐Level Outcomes of Direct‐Democratic Votes in Switzerland, 1866–2023
Introduction to the Special Issue ‘Beyond ‘Direct Democracy
Disentangling Referendums and Direct Democracy
Patterns of Policy Integration and Administrative Coordination Reforms
Do natural disasters help the environment? How voters respond and what that means
Seeking the high ground
The Structure of Appointment Politics
Direct democracy, coalition size and public spending
Satisfaction With Democracy
The Cooperative Capacity of Swiss Federalism
Campaign Strategies in the 2015 Swiss National Elections
The Democratic Effect of Direct Democracy
Voting the Agenda
The Transformation of European Social Democracy
Altering Party Systems
Le système politique suisse
A Virtuous Circle
Educated by Initiative
Analytical Politics
Ideology, Strategy and Party Change
The Silent Revolution
Intransitivities in multidimensional voting models and some implications for agenda control
Robust Locally Weighted Regression and Smoothing Scatterplots
West European Politics in the Age of Globalization
Advances in the Spatial Theory of Voting
Politics, Media, and Modern Democracy
Some thoughts about referendums, representative democracy, and separation of powers
Switzerland's Regulatory European Integration
Fiscal Effects of the Voter Initiative
Complexity in the European party space
The struggle over dimensionality
Globalization and the transformation of the national political space
Party Competition and European Integration in the East and West
Does the Citizen Initiative Weaken Party Government in the U.S. States
Structural Change in U.S. Presidents' Use of Force
Legislative Response to the Threat of Popular Initiatives
Institutional Design and the Use of Direct Democracy
Competitive Consensus. What comes after Consociationalism in Switzerland
Party Competition and Institutional Change
Occurrence and Policy Consequences of Referendums
Collusion, Competition and Democracy
Collusion, Competition and Democracy
Where do radical right parties stand? Position blurring in multidimensional competition
Putting Parties in Their Place
The New Cultural Conflict, Polarization, and Representation in the Swiss Party System, 1975–2011
Institutional Openness and the Use of Referendums and Popular Initiatives
How the Populist Radical Right Transformed Swiss Welfare Politics
The Cooperative Capacity of Swiss Federalism
From Loose Alliances to Professional Political Players
Disenchanted Swiss Parliament? Electoral Strategies and Coalition Formation
Comparing Candidates and Citizens in the Ideological Space
Two Faces of Power
The Democratic Effect of Direct Democracy
Competition Between Unequals
| Unique citing works | 27 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,45 |
| Citation span | 2015 - 2026 (12) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 27 |