Do direct-democratic procedures lead to higher acceptance than political representation?

Public Choice, vol. 167 (2016), issue 1-2, pp. 47-65

joint work with Sebastian Goerg, Andreas Glöckner, Philip Leifeld, Aniol Llorente-Saguer, Sophie Bade, Carlos Kurschilgen

Downloads

The paper is freely available (“open access“)

Abstract

Are direct-democratic decisions more acceptable to voters than decisions arrived at through representative procedures? We conduct an experimental online vignette study with a German sample to investigate how voters’ acceptance of a political decision depends on the process through which it is reached. For a set of different issues, we investigate how acceptance varies depending on whether the decision is the result of a direct-democratic institution, a party in a representative democracy, or an expert committee. Our results show that for important issues, direct democracy generates greater acceptance; this finding holds particularly for those voters who do not agree with a collectively chosen outcome. However, if the topic is of limited importance to the voters, acceptance does not differ between the mechanisms. Our results imply that a combination of representative democracy and direct democracy, conditional on the distribution of issue importance among the electorate, may be optimal with regard to acceptance of political decisions.

Reactions

“Bayern 2” (Bavarian Public Broadcasting, Channel 2) radio feature (1 April 2014, 6.05pm), on the science radio program “IQ — Wissenschaft und Forschung” on “Direkte Demokratie — Was macht der Volksentscheid mit dem Volk?” (Direct Democracy — What’s the effect of initiatives on the people?)
detektor.fm radio feature (15 August 2013): Forschungsquartett — Ist direkte Demokratie der Schlüssel zum Wählerglück? (MP3 | PDF)
DRadio Wissen (3 August 2013) — Volksentscheide kein Königsweg
Max Planck Society (2 August 2013), Forschung Aktuell