This paper evaluates for the first time whether direct democracy supplements or undermines the attendance of demonstrations as a form of protest behaviour. While a first approach assumes that direct democratic institutions serve as valve, which integrates opinions, preferences, and emotions of voters into the political process, thereby leading to fewer protests, a competing hypothesis proposes a positive relationship between direct democracy and this unconventional form of political participation due to educative effects. Drawing on individual data from recent Swiss Electoral Studies we apply multilevel analysis and estimate a hierarchical model of the effect of direct democratic institutions on individual protest behaviour. Our empirical findings suggest that the political opportunity of direct democracy is associated with a lower individual probability to attend demonstrations.
