1,721,867 research outputs found
Creative destruction and fiscal institutions: a long-run case study of three regions
No full textWe analyze the rise and decline of the steel and mining industries in the regions of Saarland, Lorraine and Luxembourg. Our main focus is on the period of structural decline in these industries after the second world war. Differences in the institutional framework of these regions are exploited to analyze the way in which the broader fiscal constitution sets incentives for governments either to obstruct or to encourage structural change in the private sector. Our main result is that fiscal autonomy of a region subjected to structural change in its private sector is associated with a relatively faster decline of employment in the sectors affected. Contrary to the political lore, fiscal transfers appear not to be used to speed up the destruction of old sectors, but rather to stabilize them
Direkte Demokratie in der Schweiz – Landesbericht 2012
Full text linkThis country report analyzes the surprising success of the Chalet-Initiative. The Initiative imposes a strict limit of 20% on secondary residences within each community, thereby in effect ending construction of vacation residences in the mountainous cantons of Switzerland. Accordingly, the dividing line of the vote runs between the city dwellers intent on environmental protection and the rural population relying on construction to ensure economic progress of their canton. The report also looks at the collection time for initiatives and finds strong differences between "quick" initiatives with broad public support that need as few as 157 days to reach the 100'000 limit and "slow" initiatives in need of most of the 549 days available (18 month limit). The average over the last 10 years is a collection time of 478 days, signaling particular support for all initiatives that need less than 200 days. Finally, the report looks at the problematic procedure for signature authentication by the communes. Prone to delay, that requirement has already resulted in the failure of referendums that should have succeeded in collecting the required 50'000 signatures
Direkte Demokratie in der Schweiz – Landesbericht 2014
Full text linkThis country report focuses on the discussion about the increasing frequency and success rate of public initiatives in Switzerland. It finds that the chance of success has significantly increased during the past 10 years. Most of this effect is due to the use of the Internet for direct democratic instruments. Regarding specific initiatives, the report looks into the practice of correcting results by repeated voting. Finally, the variations in the participation rate in direct democracy are quite striking. Due to the late introduction of women's voting rights on the federal level (1971), there still is a "lost generation" of women who never got used to democratic participation
Direkte Demokratie in der Schweiz – Länderbericht 2008/2009
Full text linkThis is the first country report in the new yearbook. It outlines the different instruments of direct democracy in Switzerland. Some of these instruments, like the public initiative for a total revision of the constitution, have been around since the inception of the federal state in 1848. Others, like the public initiative for constitutional amendments (partial revisions) – being the most popular instrument of all – have been added later (1891). The report presents an outline of the different stages of public initiatives and lists all active initiatives within theses stages
Volksentscheide nach dem Sankt-Florians-Prinzip? Das Abstimmungsverhalten zu Stuttgart 21 und grossen Infrastrukturprojekten in der Schweiz im Vergleich
No full textDirekte Demokratie in der Schweiz – Landesbericht 2013
Full text linkThis country report analyzes the narrow success (50.3% Yes) of the Mass-Immigration- Initiative that will, if properly implemented, violate the bilateral treaties between Switzerland and the European Union and, thereby, perhaps trigger the end of this form of cooperation. The report also goes into the current discussion about the reform of direct democratic instruments, e.g., by raising the signature threshold for public initiatives. During the report year there was a remarkable"partial" invalidation of an initiative. In the long history of modern Switzerland, i.e., since the inception of the federal state in 1848, there have been only four invalidations of public initiatives and never before has the parliament decided for a part of an initiative to be struck out of the voting process
Direkte Demokratie in der Schweiz – Länderbericht 2010/2011
Full text linkThis country report looks at how political parties use direct democracy during election years. The report finds a significant increase of initiative launches that can be explained by the parties' need for a distinct political profile. Election campaigning by public initiative mostly takes place during the year running up to parliamentary elections. It consolidates the parties' public image and makes sure that the collection of signatures coincides with the election campaign, thereby increasing the general visibility of politicians. Many of these "profiling initiatives" are not actually targeted at getting a broad majority. They use the instruments of direct democracy in order to draw attention to the special interest of their constituency. The report also analyzes the recent change in recounting policies. Following a judgment by the Federal Court of 2009, narrow margin votes deserve a recount even if no specific allegations for procedural errors could be raised. Finally, the report looks at the – quite legal – practice of "buying" signatures by delegating the collection activity for money
Direkte Demokratie in der Schweiz – Landesbericht 2015-2017
Full text linkThis country report describes the reduced need for reform of the public initiative procedure in Switzerland. It also analyzes the implementation of a number of initiatives criticized for their violation of public international law. The report finds that parliament ameliorates the harshness of the initiatives by introducing hardship clauses safeguarding the proportionality of the initiative's application. As an initiative expressly targeted against the supremacy of public international law, the sovereignty initiative is closely scrutinized. Finally, the government's problem in reforming corporate taxation is evident in the clear majority of votes (59%) against the third version of the reform
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