Popular Sovereignty vs. the Rule of Law? Defining the Limits of Direct Democracy

Projektinformationen

LIDD

ID Finanzhilfevereinbarung: 772160

DOI

10.3030/772160

Projekt abgeschlossen

EK-Unterschriftsdatum 29 Mai 2018

Startdatum 1 November 2018

Enddatum 30 April 2024

Finanziert unter

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Gesamtkosten

€ 1 963 935,00

EU-Beitrag

€ 1 963 935,00

Koordiniert durch

UNIVERSITAT ZURICH
Switzerland

Periodic Reporting for period 4 - LIDD (Popular Sovereignty vs. the Rule of Law? Defining the Limits of Direct Democracy)

Berichtszeitraum: 2023-05-01 bis 2024-04-30

Zusammenfassung vom Kontext und den Gesamtzielen des Projekts

Should it be permissible to launch a citizens` initiative demanding the reintroduction of the death penalty? May a proposal be put to a popular vote despite the fact that voters are not properly informed about its effects? Should the people be allowed to vote on the adoption of immigration restrictions that violate international law?

With the mushrooming of direct-democratic instruments throughout Europe and the introduction of the European Citizens` Initiative (ECI), the relationship between popular sovereignty and the rule of law is set to become one of the defining political issues of our time. Where should the legal limits of direct democracy be drawn? Who should review compliance with these limits? It is the objective of LIDD to provide the scientific basis for answering these questions.

This European Research Council (ERC) funded project builds on a comparative legal analysis, making it possible to capitalize on the wealth of experience gained with direct-democratic instruments in Switzerland and, more recently, other European states in order to develop general conclusions.

LIDD pursues three main objectives:
1) To help European states to define and apply the limits of direct democracy in an appropriate way
2) To contribute to the development of better institutional and procedural systems for reviewing compliance of direct-democratic instruments with these limits
3) To elaborate specific proposals for improving the admissibility test for the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI)

Arbeit, die ab Beginn des Projekts bis zum Ende des durch den Bericht erfassten Berichtszeitraums geleistet wurde, und die wichtigsten bis dahin erzielten Ergebnisse

Compilation and structuring of all laws, practices and systems concerning direct-democratic instruments across all the 46 Council of Europe states: Construction of three searchable databases: one on the institutional features of these instruments, one on all the referendums held across Europe since 1990, and one on all citizens’ initiatives launched between 1990 and 2020 across Europe

Analysis of these laws and practices with regard to the underlying tension between popular sovereignty and the rule of law: Various publications

Fortschritte, die über den aktuellen Stand der Technik hinausgehen und voraussichtliche potenzielle Auswirkungen (einschließlich der bis dato erzielten sozioökonomischen Auswirkungen und weiter gefassten gesellschaftlichen Auswirkungen des Projekts)

LIDD represents a leap forward in the research on direct democracy. The project innovatively combines comparative legal analysis with both qualitative and quantitative methods from other social sciences in order to capitalise on the wealth of experience gained with direct-democratic instruments in Switzerland and, more recently, other European states. This makes it possible, for the first time, to arrive at general conclusions as to what legal limits may be appropriate and how compliance with these limits should be reviewed.

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