Participatory processes and their outcomes : comparing assembly and popular vote decisions

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2022
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Strebel, Michael A.
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European Political Science Review ; 14 (2022), 3. - pp. 441-458. - Cambridge University Press. - ISSN 1755-7739. - eISSN 1755-7747
Abstract
How do face-to-face, assembly processes, and non-face-to-face, popular vote processes impact the decisions made by citizens? Normative discussions of the comparative merits of these two broad types of participatory decision-making processes partly rely on empirical assumptions concerning this question. In this paper, we test the central assumption that assemblies lead to decisions that are more widely supported by participants than popular votes. We do so by analyzing 1,400 decisions made through these processes on the highly salient issue of municipal mergers in Swiss municipalities since 1999. We find that assembly decisions are consistently made by larger majorities than popular vote decisions and that this relationship is significantly mediated by turnout. This suggests that higher levels of agreement in assemblies mainly result from selection biases – with fewer dissenting citizens participating in assemblies than in popular votes – rather than from internal dynamics in assemblies.
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320 Politics
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democratic innovation, direct democracy, institutional design, territorial reform, consensus
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ISO 690EL-WAKIL, Alice, Michael A. STREBEL, 2022. Participatory processes and their outcomes : comparing assembly and popular vote decisions. In: European Political Science Review. Cambridge University Press. 14(3), pp. 441-458. ISSN 1755-7739. eISSN 1755-7747. Available under: doi: 10.1017/S1755773922000157
BibTex
@article{elWakil2022-08Parti-57387,
  year={2022},
  doi={10.1017/S1755773922000157},
  title={Participatory processes and their outcomes : comparing assembly and popular vote decisions},
  number={3},
  volume={14},
  issn={1755-7739},
  journal={European Political Science Review},
  pages={441--458},
  author={el-Wakil, Alice and Strebel, Michael A.}
}
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