Direct Democracy in Comparative Perspective. Origins, Performance, and Reform

271 Pages·2019·2.723 MB·English

by  David Altman

Citizenship and Contemporary
Direct Democracy
DAVID ALTMAN
PontificiaUniversidadCatólicadeChile
Citizenship and Contemporary Direct Democracy
Standingoutfromallotherbooksondirectdemocracy,Citizenshipand
Contemporary Direct Democracy connects the study of direct democ-
racy to the broader field of comparative democratization and to an
important strand in normative democratic theory. Analyzing the rela-
tionshipbetweendirectdemocracyandrepresentativegovernment,this
book is organized around three main sections: the origins of contem-
porary direct democracy, its functioning, and the ways to improve the
useofdirectdemocracyanditsabuse.DavidAltmanarguesthatcitizen-
initiated mechanisms of direct democracy constitute an important
and viable way to reinvigorate current representative regimes by
strengthening democracies’ normative foundations – freedom and
equityamongcitizens–whichareparticularlyfragileinthecontextof
unequal societies. The book demonstrates how citizen-initiated mech-
anismsofdirectdemocracyempowercitizens,channelsocialdemands,
defuse violence, re-enchant citizens with politics, and break through
some of the institutionalized barriers to accountability that arise in
representativesystems.
david altman is Professor of Political Science and Chair of Com-
parative Politics at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. His
research and teaching interests lie in the field of comparative politics
withanemphasisondemocracy.HeistheauthorofDirectDemocracy
Worldwide(CambridgeUniversityPress,2011)andhastwicereceived
theUruguayanNationalPrizeforPoliticalScience.
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identifiers:lccn2018030912|isbn9781108496636(hardback)|
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For my parents, Lea and Ruben, and my sister, Janine, without whom
I could have not started this beautiful journey; for my wife, Rossana,
for her encouragement and support; and for my kids, Naomi and
Matías, who give everything meaning
Contents
Listof Figures page xi
Listof Tables xiii
Preface xv
Acknowledgments xix
Listof Abbreviations xxiii
1 Democratic Innovations for Representative Governments 1
1.1 DemocraticFatigueandOptionsforDemocraticInnovation 2
1.2 DefiningDirectDemocracy 6
1.3 DirectDemocracyandRepresentativeGovernment 11
1.4 OrganizationoftheBook 20
part i origins
2 Breaking Through: The Rebirthof Direct Democracy in the Age of
the Nation-State 27
2.1 HistoricalCases 30
2.2 WhatDoWeKnowaboutCI-MDDAdoption? 44
2.3 Conclusions 47
Appendix 49
3 Catching On: Waves of Adoption of Citizen-Initiated Mechanisms
of Direct Democracy since World War I 55
3.1 AdoptionofCI-MDDs:ThePuzzle 56
3.2 MeasuringCitizen-InitiatedMechanismsofDirectDemocracy 58
3.3 ReasonsbehindtheAdoptionofCitizen-InitiatedMechanismsof
DirectDemocracy 64
vii
viii Contents
3.4 EmpiricalEvidence 69
3.5 Conclusions 76
Appendix 78
part ii nature
4 Status Quo Bias? Political Change throughDirectDemocracy 83
4.1 TheEffectsofDemocracyandInstitutionalDesignon
PopularVotes 84
4.2 DeterminantsoftheSuccessofMechanismsofDirectDemocracy 86
4.3 EmpiricalEvidence 95
4.4 Discussion 101
Appendix 106
5 Leftor Right? Investigating Potential IdeologicalBiases in
Contemporary Direct Democracy 111
5.1 IdeologicalBiasesandDirectDemocracy:
PlausibleExplanations 114
5.2 MeasuringIdeologicalDivideandCapitalization 118
5.3 EmpiricalEvidenceandDataAnalysis 126
5.4 Conclusions 137
Appendix 140
part iii reform
6 WhyAdoptDirectDemocracy?MuchMoreThanaSimpleVote 145
6.1 ImpactofCI-MDDsonthePoliticalGame 146
6.2 TheRelationshipbetweenRepresentativeInstitutionsand
theCitizenry 149
6.3 DirectDemocracyPerformsBetterThanOtherDemocratic
InstitutionalInnovations 156
6.4 Conclusions 165
7 How Can DirectDemocracy Be Improved? Citizens’Commissions
andCitizens’ Counterproposals 167
7.1 Representation 167
7.2 DirectDemocracyasaMeanstoControlthePlutocraticTendency
ofElections 169
7.3 DirectDemocracyBestPractice 172
7.4 AFurtherTwistonthePromiseofDeliberation 180
7.5 FusingDirectandDeliberativeInstitutions:DeliberativeCitizens’
Commissions(DCC) 183
7.6 ACounterfactualCase:VotingRightsfortheUruguayanDiaspora,
October2009 192
7.7 Conclusion 196
Contents ix
8 Conclusions: ANew Democratic Equilibrium 198
8.1 MainFindingsandContributions 198
8.2 ExpandingCitizenshipandtheQualityofDemocracy 204
8.3 TheRoadAhead 209
8.4 FinalRemarks 212
References 213
Index 247
Figures
1.1 Simplified alternatives fordemocratic improvement page 5
1.2 Simplified typology ofmechanisms of direct democracy 8
1.3 Book structure 20
2.1 Genealogy of citizen-initiated mechanisms ofdirect democracy in
select countries 43
3.1 Usesof mechanisms ofdirect democracy since 1900 (occurrences
percountry–year) 59
3.2 Countries inthe world with CI-MDDpotentialsince 1900 62
3.3 Kaplan–Meier survival estimates forfast democratization 70
3.4 Hazard coefficients predictingthe adoption of CI-MDDs 72
3.5 Venn diagram ofCI-MDD adoption (selected cases,
acronyms-year) 73
3.6 Adoption of CI-MDDs by the four main predictors
(selected countries) 74
A3.1 Adoption and existence of CI-MDDs atthenational level 80
4.1 Determinantsof success rate (coefficients and
confidence interval) 97
4.2 Participation and the probability of success 99
4.3 Quorums and the probability ofsuccess 100
4.4 Governmentdays in office and the probability of success 100
4.5 Growth and the probability of success 101
A4.1 Calculating the status quo surface (SQS) 106
5.1 Examples of SwissPopularParty (SVP) posters 112
5.2 Expected direction ofCI-MDDs 117
5.3 Ideological placementof CI-MDDs instigatorsand governments
since 1980 127
5.4 Degree of instigators’extremism by time 130
xi
xii List of Figures
5.5 Ideologicalleanings of CI-MDDinstigatorsrelative
to government 131
5.6 Gravitational ideological center ofinstigators, controllingfor
CI-MDD type 132
5.7 Gravitational ideological center ofinstigators and
economic development 133
5.8 Determinantsof MDDs’ acceptance 134
5.9 Determinantsof MDDs’ capitalization 135
5.10 Marginal effects of acceptance and capitalization 136
7.1 Popularinitiative and citizens’ counterproposal 189
7.2 Evolution of Uruguayan public opinion regarding
overseas voting 195
Tables
1.1 Eleven voters and eleven questions page 14
A2.1 Mechanisms ofdirect democracy since 1900 (by type
and country) 49
3.1 Comparison of countriesat time of CI-MDDadoption versus
therest 73
A3.1 Summary statistics 78
A3.2 Cox proportional hazards model estimates predicting the
adoption of CI-MDDs 78
4.1 Types of MDDs based on their agenda-setters and policy
preferences 87
4.2 Success rates (SR) of MDDs by agenda-setters and policy
preferences(1980–2016) 96
4.3 Legislative success rate by bills’origin inseventeen selected
democracies 103
A4.1 Typicalquorumsand their status quo surface (SQS) 108
A4.2 Summary statistics 109
A4.3 Binary panellogistic regressions: determinantsof success rate 109
A5.1 Summary statistics 140
A5.2 Logistic and OLS models of acceptanceandcapitalization 141
7.1 CI-MDDdesign considerations 178
xiii