Direct Democracy
3 November 2009
A word about the essays…
Functions of Party Identification
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Helps one organise and categorise information
Perceptual Screen
 Helps one make value judgments. Is Barack Obama more
competent than George Bush? Could Bill Clinton be trusted?
Influence Political Behavior
 Persons who are party identifiers are more interested in
politics, more concerned about who wins the election, and
more likely to vote.
 party id is the most important determinant of the way people
vote
How do people decide who to vote for? Two Models
of Voting Behaviour
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Voters as forward thinkers (Prospective Model)
 Party identification
 Candidate characteristics
 Issue positions
Voters looking back (Retrospective Model)
 Party identification
 Evaluation of the past
Note that both models agree that partisanship plays a central role
Measuring Party Identification
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“Generally speaking, do you usually think of yourself as a
Republican, a Democrat, and Independent, or what?”
Persons who call themselves Republicans or Democrats are then
asked: “Would you call yourself a strong (Republican, Democrat)
or a not very strong (Republican, Democrat).
Persons who call themselves Independents, answer “no
preference,” or name another party are asked : “Do you think of
yourself as closer to the Republican or to the Democratic party?”
Ideology and Partisanship
Trends in Partisanship (1952-2008)
Influence of Party Id
Dynamics of 2000 Presidential Campaign
Source: Johnston and Hagen (APSA 2003) “Priming and Learning:
Evidence from the 2000 Annenberg Study”
Perception of Gore’s Honesty
Requirements for Issue Voting
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Aware of the issue
Care about the issue
Perceive difference between the candidates
Correct about the difference
Direct Democracy as an Alternative
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Rather than voting for representatives, citizens are able to draft
and vote directly on policy
Direct democracy allows citizens to be their own “legislators”
Direct democracy also allows citizens to set the policy agenda
Circumvent a non-responsive legislature
Recall the reasoning for the U.S. Constitutional
Framework…

America is not so much a democracy as it is a republic.

The whole idea of the Constitution was to limit majority rule, to
prevent tyranny of the majority. This is why citizens do not
make laws directly, but elect representatives to do so, and
supra-majorities or checks and balances are required in every
step of legislation and execution.
Nevertheless, the Constitution reserves power to the states to
determine their own laws. Many states allow voters to make laws
directly.

Devices of Direct Democracy
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The Referendum
 Government places a question before the voters
The Initiative
 Allows voters (or some organized group) to define the issue or
question to be voted on
The Recall
 Allows voters to undo elections by recalling elected officials
The Referendum
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France and the Netherlands recently voted on the European
Constitution (2005)
Constitution of Iraq (2005)
Australian Republic (1999)
Canada “Charlottetown Accord” (1992)—
 divisions of powers between federal and provinces
Ireland (1995) held a referendum to decide whether divorce
should be legal
The Initiative—Some Examples

Taxes
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Medicinal marijuana
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California’s Prop 315 (1996); Proposition 1 (Michigan 2008); Measure 67
(Oregon, 1998)
New proposals in California would legalise, tax and regulate the drug in what
would be the first such law in the United States. Tax officials estimate that
legislation could bring $1.4 billion a year.
Ban same-sex marriage
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Prop 13 (California, 1978)
11 states (2004); 3 states (2008)
Deny illegal immigrants social services, health care, and public education
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Prop 187 (California, 1994)
The Recall
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Typically used for local offices
Exception-California Governor (October 7, 2003)
Signatures
Results
Where Direct Democracy is used
Advantages
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Allows citizens to circumvent unresponsive legislatures (example
of term limits and other reforms)
Allows citizens to remove unpopular representatives (example of
Gray Davis)
Empowers voters
Criticisms of Direct Democracy
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Original intent of the framers was for a republican form of
government
Too much money and “special interest” influence
Voters are incompetent
Concern about minority rights
Reasons Californians Support Direct
Democracy
Gets attention of politicians
Makes voters aware of issues
Forces issues onto the agenda
Allows for policy change
Allows direct participation
Gives people a voice
0
5
10
Source: Table 7.1, p. 135 Donovan and Bowler
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Voter Evaluations of Representative
versus Direct Democracy
Which do you feel can be trusted more often to dow
hwat is right on important government issues?
Which do you feel is more influenced by special
interest groups?
Which do you feel is better suited to decide upon
large scale government programs and projects
Which do you feel gives more thorough review to
each particular aspect of a proposed law?
Which do you feel is better suited to decide upon
highly technical or legal policy matters?
Who do you feel generally enacts more coherent and
wel-thought-out government policies?
0
Elected Representatives
10
20
30
Voting Public
Source: Table 7.2, p. 136 Donovan and Bowler
40
50
Other
60
70