Scholarship about both politics and policy tends to represent tools of direct democracy as veto points that are used to prevent policy change. In this study, we move beyond this unidimensional view and explain the conditions under which instruments of direct democracy can be conducive to policy change. We investigate both the direct and indirect effects of citizens’ initiatives to show that, under certain conditions, these can provide an opportunity for incremental yet potentially transformative policy change. We offer a systematic and comparative assessment of the policy effects generated by a set of European Citizens’ Initiatives (ECIs). ECIs provide an ideal setting for uncovering the potential indirect policy effects since they are not legally binding. Interestingly, some ECIs had tangible effects on EU policies, and these effects materialised over time and at different levels of the EU’s political system, and can be regarded as building blocks for potentially transformative policy change.
Altman, D. (2014) Direct Democracy Worldwide, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Baumgartner, F.R. and Jones, B.D. (2009) Agendas and Instability in American Politics, 2nd edn, Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
Béland, D., Cantillon, B., Hick, R. and Moreira, A. (2021) Social policy in the face of a global pandemic: policy responses to the COVID‐19 Crisis, Social Policy & Administration, 55(2): 249–60. doi: 10.1111/spol.12718
Béland, D. and Powell, M. (2016) Continuity and change in social policy, Social Policy & Administration, 50(2): 129–47. doi: 10.1111/spol.12207
Bundestag. (2020) Antrag der fraktionen Der CDU/CSU Und SPD aufforderung an die Europäische kommission zur umsetzung der bürgerinitiative „minority SafePack, https://dserver.bundestag.de/btd/19/246/1924644.pdf.
Campbell, J.L. (2004) Institutional Change and Globalization, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Chen, Y. (2019) Withdrawal of European soil framework directive: reasons and recommendations, Journal of Sustainable Development, 13(1): 1–9. doi: 10.5539/jsd.v13n1p1
Coleman, W.D., Skogstad, G.D. and Atkinson, M.M. (1996) Paradigm shifts and policy networks: cumulative change in agriculture, Journal of Public Policy, 16(3): 273–301. doi: 10.1017/S0143814X00007777
Crepaz, K. (2020) The minority safepack initiative – a European participatory process supporting cultural diversity, European Yearbook of Minority Issues Online, 17(1): 23–47. doi: 10.1163/22116117_01701003
Della Porta, D. (2013) Can Democracy Be Saved? Participation, Deliberation and Social Movements, Cambridge: Polity.
Düwert, M. (2021) Ein hintertürchen für bienenschützer, Land & Forst, https://www.digitalmagazin.de/marken/landforst/hauptheft/2021–40/agrarpolitik/010_ein-hintertuerchen-fuer-bienenschuetzer?q=%2Fmarken%2Flandforst%2Fhauptheft%2F2021-40%2Fagrarpolitik%2F010_ein-hintertuerchen-fuer-bienenschuetzer.
European Commission (2015) Guide to the European Citizens’ Initiative: A New Right for EU Citizens: You Can Set the Agenda!, Luxembourg: Publications Office, doi: 10.2775/283199.
European Commission (2018) Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Quality of Water Intended for Human Consumption (Recast), Brussels: European Commission.
European Parliament (2021) European Parliament Resolution of 28 April 2021 on Soil Protection (2021/2548(RSP)), Brussels: European Parliament.
European Parliament and Council of the EU (2020) Directive (EU) 2020/2184 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2020 on the Quality of Water Intended for Human Consumption (Recast), Brussels: European Parliament.
Exadaktylos, T. and Radaelli, C.M. (2009) Research design in European studies: the case of Europeanization, Journal of Common Market Studies, 47(3): 507–30. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-5965.2009.00820.x
Friedrich, C.J. (1937) Constitutional Government and Politics, New York: Harper.
Giugni, M. (2004) Social Protest and Policy Change: Ecology, Antinuclear, and Peace Movements in Comparative Perspective, Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.
Giugni, M. (2007) Useless protest? A time-series analysis of the policy outcomes of ecology, antinuclear, and peace movements in the United States, 1977–1995, Mobilization: An International Quarterly, 12(1): 53–77. doi: 10.17813/maiq.12.1.b05j1087v7pxg382
Greenwood, J. (2019) The European Citizens’ initiative: bringing the EU closer to its Citizens?, Comparative European Politics, 17(6): 940–56. doi: 10.1057/s41295-018-0138-x
Hall, P.A. (1993) Policy paradigms, social learning, and the state: the case of economic policymaking in Britain, Comparative Politics, 25(3): 275. doi: 10.2307/422246
Hix, S. and Høyland, B. (2013) Empowerment of the European parliament, Annual Review of Political Science, 16(1): 171–89. doi: 10.1146/annurev-polisci-032311-110735
Hug, S. and Tsebelis, G. (2002) Veto players and referendums around the world, Journal of Theoretical Politics, 14(4): 465–515. doi: 10.1177/095169280201400404
Hupe, P. and Edwards, A. (2012) The accountability of power: democracy and governance in modern times, European Political Science Review, 4(2): 177–94. doi: 10.1017/S1755773911000154
Immergut, E. (1992) The rules of the game: the logic of health policy-making in France, Switzerland, and Sweden, in Structuring Politics: Historical Institutionalism in Comparative Analysis, New York: Cambridge University Press, pp 57–89.
Ingram, H., deLeon, P. and Schneider, A. (2016) Conclusion: public policy theory and democracy: the elephant in the corner, in B.G. Peters and P. Zittoun (eds) Contemporary Approaches to Public Policy: Theories, Controversies and Perspectives, International Series on Public Policy, London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp 175–200.
Kandyla, A. (2020) The Emperor’s New Clothes?: Assessing the Democratic Value of the European Citizens’ Initiative, Florence: European University Institute.
Kandyla, A. and Gherghina, S. (2018) What triggers the intention to use the European Citizens’ Initiative? The role of benefits, values and efficacy: explaining the intention to use the ECI, Journal of Common Market Studies, 56(6): 1223–39. doi: 10.1111/jcms.12737
Lupia, A. and Matsusaka, J.G. (2004) Direct democracy: new approaches to old questions, Annual Review of Political Science, 7(1): 463–82. doi: 10.1146/annurev.polisci.7.012003.104730
Maggetti, M. and Trein, P. (2019) Multilevel governance and problem‐solving: towards a dynamic theory of multilevel Policy‐making?, Public Administration, 97(2): 355–69. doi: 10.1111/padm.12573
Mahoney, J. and Thelen, K.A. (eds.) (2010) Explaining Institutional Change: Ambiguity, Agency, and Power, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.
Nohrstedt, D. and Weible, C.M. (2010) The logic of policy change after crisis: proximity and Ssbsystem interaction, Risk, Hazards & Crisis in Public Policy, 1(2): 1–32. doi: 10.1080/19475701003759643
Papadopoulos, Y. (2001) How does direct democracy matter? The impact of referendum votes on politics and policy‐making, West European Politics, 24(2): 35–58. doi: 10.1080/01402380108425432
Papadopoulos, Y. (2005) Implementing (and radicalizing) Art. I-47.4 of the constitution: is the addition of some (semi-)direct democracy to the nascent consociational European federation just Swiss folklore?, Journal of European Public Policy, 12(3): 448–67. doi: 10.1080/13501760500091331
Politico. (2019) French court rejects village mayor’s pesticides ban, https://www.politico.eu/article/french-court-rejects-village-mayors-pesticides-ban/.
Rahman, K.S. and Thelen, K. (2019) The rise of the platform business model and the transformation of Twenty-first-century capitalism, Politics & Society, 47(2): 177–204. doi: 10.1177/0032329219838932
Reuters (2019) French mayors ban glyphosate weedkiller, defying government, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-agriculture-glyphosate-idUSKCN1VC2C1.
Reuters (2020) France clamps down on use of weedkiller glyphosate in farming, https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-france-glyphosate-idUKKBN26U1JE.
Rose, R. (2015) Representing Europeans: A Pragmatic Approach, 2nd edn, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Schiller, T. and Setälä, M. (2013) Citizens’ Initiatives in Europe: Procedures and Consequences of Agenda-Setting by Citizens, Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Schmitt, H., Sanz, A., Braun, D. and Teperoglou, E. (2020) It all happens at once: Understanding electoral behaviour in second-order elections, Politics and Governance, 8(1): 6–18.
Skrabka, J. (2020) Prohibition of cages for laying hens: new legal regulation of egg production in the Czech Republic, European Food and Feed Law Review, 15(6): 592–94.
Smith, G. (1976) The functional properties of the referendum, European Journal of Political Research, 4(1): 1–23. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6765.1976.tb00787.x
Soroka, S.N. and Wlezien, C. (2010) Degrees of Democracy. Politics, Public Opinion, and Policy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
SPD, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, and FDP (2021) Mehr Fortschritt Wagen - Bündnis Für Freiheit, Gerechtigkeit Und Nachhaltigkeit, https://www.bundesregierung.de/resource/blob/974430/1990812/04221173eef9a6720059cc353d759a2b/2021-12-10-koav2021-data.pdf?download=1.
Stimson, J.A., Mackuen, M.B. and Erikson, R.S. (1995) Dynamic representation, The American Political Science Review, 89(3): 543–65. doi: 10.2307/2082973
Streeck, W. and Thelen, K. (2005) Introduction: institutional change in advanced political economies, in W. Streeck and K. Thelen (eds) Beyond Continuity: Institutional Change in Advanced Political Economies, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 1–39.
Szabó, I.G., Golden, D. and Erne, R. (2021) Why do some labour alliances succeed in politicizing Europe across Borders? A comparison of the Right2Water and fair transport European Citizens’ Initiatives, Journal of Common Market Studies, 1–19.
Tosun, J. and Koch, M.A. (2021) Policy mixes for biodiversity: a diffusion analysis of state-level citizens’ initiatives in Germany, Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 1–13. doi: 10.1080/1523908X.2021.1992265
Tosun, J., Lelieveldt, H. and Wing, T. (2019) A case of ‘muddling through’? The politics of renewing glyphosate authorization in the European union, Sustainability, 11(2): 440. doi: 10.3390/su11020440
Tosun, J. and Schaub, S. (2021) Constructing policy narratives for transnational mobilization: insights from European Citizens’ Initiatives, European Policy Analysis, 7(S2): 344–64. doi: 10.1002/epa2.1125
Tosun, J. and Triebskorn, R. (2020) Civil society and the governance of water services: German political parties’ reactions to Right2Water, Water, 12(3): 743. doi: 10.3390/w12030743
Tosun, J. and Varone, F. (2021) Politicizing the use of glyphosate in Europe: comparing policy issue linkage across advocacy organizations and countries, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice, 23(5–6): 607–24. doi: 10.1080/13876988.2020.1762076
Vogeler, C.S. (2019) Why do farm animal welfare regulations vary between EU member states? A comparative analysis of societal and party political determinants in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK: farm animal welfare policies in EU states, Journal of Common Market Studies, 57(2): 317–35. doi: 10.1111/jcms.12794
Walgrave, S., Varone, F. and Dumont, P. (2006) Policy with or without parties? A comparative analysis of policy priorities and policy change in Belgium, 1991 to 2000, Journal of European Public Policy, 13(7): 1021–38. doi: 10.1080/13501760600924035
Weible, C.M. and Sabatier, P.A. (eds.) (2017) Theories of the Policy Process, 4th edn, New York: Westview Press.
Zeitlin, J., Weimer, M., van der Duin, D., Kuhn, T. and Jensen, M.D. (2021) Reforming EU pesticides regulation, rebuilding public support: evidence from survey experiments in six member states, SSRN Electronic Journal, https://www.ssrn.com/abstract=3862421.
May 2022 onwards | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 3680 | 2221 | 242 |
Full Text Views | 1067 | 40 | 2 |
PDF Downloads | 976 | 60 | 4 |
Institutional librarians can find more information about free trials here