Perspectives on Direct Legislation: Washington State's Experience 1914-1973

1975 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugh A. Bone ◽  
Robert C. Benedict
Keyword(s):  
Direct Legislation

Direct Legislation: Some Implications of Open Housing Referenda

1970 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Howard D. Hamilton
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
The United States ◽  
World War ◽  
American Government ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Pass Through ◽  
Direct Legislation ◽  
Direct Government ◽  
Open Housing

Any middle-aged member of the political science guild in a retrospective mood might ponder a question: “What ever happened to direct democracy?” In our halcyon student days the textbooks discussed the direct democracy trinity—initiative, referendum, and recall—described their mechanics and variations, explained their origin in the Progressive Era, told us that the United States, Australia, and Switzerland were leading practitioners of direct democracy, cited a few eccentric referenda, gave the standard pro and con arguments, and essayed some judgments of the relative merits of direct and representative democracy. Latter day collegians may pass through the portals innocent of the existence of the institutions of direct government. Half of the American government texts never mention the subject; the others allocate a paragraph or a page for a casual mention or a barebones explanation of the mechanics.A similar trend has occurred in the literature. Before 1921, every volume of this Review had items on the referendum, five in one volume. Subsequently there have been only seven articles, all but two prior to World War II. “The Initiative and Referendum in Graustark” has ceased to be a fashionable dissertation topic, only four in the last thirty years. All but two of the published monographs antedate World War II.

Direct Legislation in United Germany

2018 ◽  
pp. 148-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hermann K. Heußner
Keyword(s):  
Direct Legislation

Minorities and Direct Legislation: Evidence from California Ballot Proposition Elections

2002 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 154-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoltan L. Hajnal ◽  
Elisabeth R. Gerber ◽  
Hugh Louch
Keyword(s):  
Direct Legislation

Homeward Bound?: Micro-Level Legislative Responsiveness to Ballot Initiatives

2001 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel A. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Indirect Effects ◽  
State Legislature ◽  
Macro Level ◽  
Legislative Behavior ◽  
Ballot Initiatives ◽  
Ballot Initiative ◽  
American States ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Direct Legislation

Recent macro-level studies examining the indirect effects of direct legislation on public policy in the American states are decidedly mixed. This study tests whether the macro-level logic of legislative behavior in response to ballot initiatives holds true at the micro-level for individual legislators. I examined the determinants of legislative votes on “counter-majoritarian” legislation—bills that directly challenge the outcomes of earlier statewide ballot initiatives. In 1999, the Colorado state legislature tried to overturn the outcomes of three previous ballot contests. I find that in two of the three cases, a legislator's vote on these bills was related to the vote in his or her district on the respective ballot initiative. This helps explain why many legislators will vote contrary to the outcome of a statewide initiative vote.

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