Direct democracy and its use at multiple levels

Abstract

Recent years saw a significant rise of direct democracy across Europe at multiple levels. While referendums became nationally and locally a regular part of the decision-making process, institutions introduced also a variety of forms of direct democracy in their internal procedures. Despite this expansion, direct democracy is often viewed as a homogenous phenomenon. However, its purpose and functions vary across the actors involved – governments, political parties, citizens. This panel seeks to disentangle the use of direct democracy at various levels. It aims to explore how it works at national, regional, local, intra-party levels. The answers to this question help the research agenda to develop a multi-level theoretical perspective on the use of direct democracy.

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