Direct Democracy in the German Länder: History, Institutions, and (Mal)functions

This paper examines the direct democratic institutions within the German political system. In a first step, direct democratic elements are analyzed in a historical context covering a period from the Weimar Republic to and beyond German Reunification. In a second step, the direct democratic instrumen...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Rohner, Andreas
Formato: Working Paper NonPeerReviewed
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: 2011
Materias:
C2D Working Paper Series
320 Political science
340 Law
900 History
Acceso en línea:http://dx.doi.org/10.5167/uzh-94811
http://biblioteca.clacso.edu.ar/gsdl/cgi-bin/library.cgi?a=d&c=ch/ch-001&d=94811oai
Aporte de:
Red de Bibliotecas Virtuales de Ciencias Sociales (CLACSO) de Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales
id I16-R122-94811oai
record_format dspace
institution Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales
institution_str I-16
repository_str R-122
collection Red de Bibliotecas Virtuales de Ciencias Sociales (CLACSO)
language Inglés
topic C2D Working Paper Series
320 Political science
340 Law
900 History
spellingShingle C2D Working Paper Series
320 Political science
340 Law
900 History
Rohner, Andreas
Direct Democracy in the German Länder: History, Institutions, and (Mal)functions
topic_facet C2D Working Paper Series
320 Political science
340 Law
900 History
description This paper examines the direct democratic institutions within the German political system. In a first step, direct democratic elements are analyzed in a historical context covering a period from the Weimar Republic to and beyond German Reunification. In a second step, the direct democratic instruments provided in the Basic Law and the various state constitutions are analyzed in their respective legal context whereby the focus lies on the Länder level. Finally, the main points of criticism of the current state of direct democracy in Germany and their remedies are to be outlined. The historical analysis shows that the 'Weimar experience' contrary to commonly held beliefs cannot provide the reason for not implementing direct democratic elements in the Basic Law after World War II. The comparative legal examination of the Länder constitutions identifies three institutional types of direct democracy: a two-tier-model, a three-tier-model and a hybrid model which are presented in detail. The criticism of the current state of direct democracy in Germany concerns formal, material, and procedural requirements and restrictions that have to be met in order to make a referendum succeed. The signature quorums are comparatively high and therefore are in danger to exert a prohibitive effect. Moreover, the approval and participation quorums required by some constitutions might undermine one key contribution of direct democracy: the political discussion. The requirement of a reasoned and detailed draft bill - if interpreted too narrowly - may ask too much of laymen. The more or less comprehensive preclusion of budget-affecting issues virtually excludes any referendums. The parliament's right to submit a counter-proposal might be misused as a means of splitting of votes, in particular where the voter is allowed to cast only a single yes-vote.
format Working Paper
NonPeerReviewed
Working Paper
NonPeerReviewed
author Rohner, Andreas
author_facet Rohner, Andreas
author_sort Rohner, Andreas
title Direct Democracy in the German Länder: History, Institutions, and (Mal)functions
title_short Direct Democracy in the German Länder: History, Institutions, and (Mal)functions
title_full Direct Democracy in the German Länder: History, Institutions, and (Mal)functions
title_fullStr Direct Democracy in the German Länder: History, Institutions, and (Mal)functions
title_full_unstemmed Direct Democracy in the German Länder: History, Institutions, and (Mal)functions
title_sort direct democracy in the german länder: history, institutions, and (mal)functions
publishDate 2011
url http://dx.doi.org/10.5167/uzh-94811
http://biblioteca.clacso.edu.ar/gsdl/cgi-bin/library.cgi?a=d&c=ch/ch-001&d=94811oai
work_keys_str_mv AT rohnerandreas directdemocracyinthegermanlanderhistoryinstitutionsandmalfunctions
bdutipo_str Repositorios
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