The institutions of direct democracy

This chapter deals with the third and in many ways most crucial institution of the Swiss political system: direct democracy. The instruments of direct democracy are not exclusive to the Swiss, in fact an ever growing number of democratic regimes use the referendum device and forms of popular initiatives (Butler and Ranney 1994; Gallagher and Uleri 1996; Budge 1996; Mendelsohn and Parkin 2001). However, nowhere are these more developed than in Switzerland. A comparative glimpse at the (numeric) importance of direct democracy at the national level reveals that Switzerland comes first among all 47 Council of Europe member states (Schmitter and Trechsel 2004: 80). Between 1960 and 2003, a total of 321 referendums were held at the national level in Switzerland. This exceeds by a factor of six the total of those coming second and third on this list, i.e. Liechtenstein (58 referendums) and Italy (57). Also, and unlike anywhere else, the Swiss institutions of direct democracy embody a truly system-formative device, greatly impacting on party competition, government, Parliament, the legislative process and policy making at all levels of the federal state.

Well before the creation of the federal state in 1848, various forms of direct-democratic institutions existed at the cantonal and municipal levels. Although early forms of local democracy go back as far as the twelfth century, it was primarily through the reception of ideas stemming from the French Revolution that direct democracy was extended, modernized and institutionalized at the cantonal level (Kölz 1992).