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Homogeneity, Heterogeneity and Direct Democracy: The Case of Swiss Referenda

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 June 2007

Abraham Diskin ,
André Eschet-Schwarz  and
Dan S. Felsenthal
Abraham Diskin
Affiliation:
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
André Eschet-Schwarz
Affiliation:
University of Haifa
Dan S. Felsenthal
Affiliation:
University of Haifa
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Abstract

Abstract. The general question addressed in this study is whether voting behaviour in referenda conducted in a pluralistic society tends to reflect more the heterogeneous or the homogeneous characteristics of this society. In order to answer this question we investigated, mainly by means of factor analysis, all 538 federal referenda conducted in Switzerland since the foundation of the Swiss Confederation in 1848 until the end of 2005. Based on the extensive Swiss experience, the answer to our question seems quite clearly to be that the use of referenda as tools of direct democracy in a pluralistic society tends to reflect much more the homogeneous characteristics of that society than its heterogeneous ones.

Résumé. Le thème général de l'étude est le suivant: le comportement des votants qui participent aux référendums dans une société pluraliste est-il influencé par les caractéristiques hétérogènes ou homogènes de la société en question? Afin de répondre à cette question nous avons examiné, par analyse factorielle, 538 referendums fédéraux tenus en Suisse depuis la création de la Confédération suisse en 1848 et jusqu'en 2005. Le résultat de notre recherche montre clairement que l'utilisation des référendums comme instrument de démocratie directe dans une société pluraliste a tendance à refléter davantage les caractéristiques homogènes que les caractéristiques hétérogènes de la société.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 40 , Issue 2 , June 2007 , pp. 317 - 342
Copyright
© 2007 Cambridge University Press

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