Role of The Political Elite in Swiss Direct-Democratic Votes

Abstract

The article contends that the political elite play a crucial role not just in representative systems, but also in the direct-democratic process. On the basis of the Swiss experience, the empirical analysis shows that the outcome of the direct-democratic vote heavily depends on the issue-specific configuration of power in the political elite, and that the impact of the mobilization of its different parts is, indeed, more complex than is usually suggested by the critics of the direct-democratic process. The results support the idea that consensual elites readily get their way, but that the situation is more complex when elites are divided. In a nutshell, the analysis shows that the coalition formation among political elites is a key determinant of the outcome of direct-democratic votes.