Does direct democracy increase communicative responsiveness? A field experiment with Swiss politicians

Does direct democracy increase communicative responsiveness? A field experiment with Swiss politicians

Many argue that direct democracy improves the quality of democracy. In particular, many scholars claim that it increases the representation of the public’s preferences by fostering communicative responsiveness between politicians and citizens. While studies have come to mixed conclusions about the e...

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Main Author: Anouk Lloren
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2017-03-01
Series:Research & Politics
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1177/2053168017700738
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spelling doaj-8da483c143164c0f99fa89fb78d7104e2020-11-25T03:18:22ZengSAGE PublishingResearch & Politics2053-16802017-03-01410.1177/205316801770073810.1177_2053168017700738Does direct democracy increase communicative responsiveness? A field experiment with Swiss politiciansAnouk LlorenMany argue that direct democracy improves the quality of democracy. In particular, many scholars claim that it increases the representation of the public’s preferences by fostering communicative responsiveness between politicians and citizens. While studies have come to mixed conclusions about the effect of direct democracy on policy outcomes, little is known about how direct democratic processes affect politicians’ responsiveness. Using a field experiment, this study examines whether direct democracy increases the responsiveness of Swiss state legislators to citizen-initiated contacts on policy concerns. Contrary to popular belief, our results show that direct democracy does not enhance politicians’ responsiveness to policy requests.https://doi.org/10.1177/2053168017700738
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Anouk Lloren
spellingShingle Anouk Lloren
Does direct democracy increase communicative responsiveness? A field experiment with Swiss politicians
Research & Politics
author_facet Anouk Lloren
author_sort Anouk Lloren
title Does direct democracy increase communicative responsiveness? A field experiment with Swiss politicians
title_short Does direct democracy increase communicative responsiveness? A field experiment with Swiss politicians
title_full Does direct democracy increase communicative responsiveness? A field experiment with Swiss politicians
title_fullStr Does direct democracy increase communicative responsiveness? A field experiment with Swiss politicians
title_full_unstemmed Does direct democracy increase communicative responsiveness? A field experiment with Swiss politicians
title_sort does direct democracy increase communicative responsiveness? a field experiment with swiss politicians
publisher SAGE Publishing
series Research & Politics
issn 2053-1680
publishDate 2017-03-01
description Many argue that direct democracy improves the quality of democracy. In particular, many scholars claim that it increases the representation of the public’s preferences by fostering communicative responsiveness between politicians and citizens. While studies have come to mixed conclusions about the effect of direct democracy on policy outcomes, little is known about how direct democratic processes affect politicians’ responsiveness. Using a field experiment, this study examines whether direct democracy increases the responsiveness of Swiss state legislators to citizen-initiated contacts on policy concerns. Contrary to popular belief, our results show that direct democracy does not enhance politicians’ responsiveness to policy requests.
url https://doi.org/10.1177/2053168017700738
work_keys_str_mv AT anouklloren doesdirectdemocracyincreasecommunicativeresponsivenessafieldexperimentwithswisspoliticians
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