Agenda Initiative

Some typologies and studies of direct democracy also include a mechanism called agenda initiative (for example International IDEA, 2008; Moeckli, 2021).

These are instruments of political participation which allow for the people to make parliament discuss a certain issue. What is common to direct democracy is the collection of signatures. No doubt, “the citizen initiative must undoubtedly be ranked among popular rights increasing the direct influence of the people on legislation” (Morel, 2018: 30). But the agenda initiative is distinct from direct democracy for a clear reason: It is missing a vote.

For Altman, a vote is the absolute prerequisite for direct democracy, which is why he excludes “legislative popular initiatives” from direct democracy (Atman, 2011: 7). Also, other typological considerations leave it out (see for example Vatter, 2000/2009; Hornig, 2011a). Within the navigator dataset, we nonetheless include the agenda or citizen initiative as an instrument related to direct democracy as it may have comparable social effects to those of direct democracy. This can be the formation and mobilization of political interests or personal political education.