THE INDIRECT EFFECT OF DIRECT LEGISLATION: HOW INSTITUTIONS SHAPE INTEREST GROUP SYSTEMS - Softcover

BOEHMKE, FREDERICK J

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0814257097 ISBN 13: 9780814257098

Publisher: Ohio State University Press, 2021

Synopsis

Frederick J. Boehmke's book makes explicit the many consequences—intended and unintended—of having direct legislation possible in a state. Many studies of the initiative process argue that it is a flawed process that rewards wealthy interests. While evidence to support this conclusion is often drawn from a number of high-profile, high-expenditure initiative campaigns, ballot campaigns are merely one consequence of the initiative process. The ability to propose legislation directly to the people fundamentally changes the process through which citizens are represented by organized interest groups, benefiting typically underrepresented interests.

To demonstrate this, the author models the incentives that the initiative process creates for interests to organize and for how they communicate their preferences to policy makers. Interests that represent a broader range of the public are found to gain the most from the option to propose initiatives, implying that the set of organized interests in initiative states should reflect this advantage. Ironically, an effect of direct legislation is to potentially increase the effectiveness of special interest lobbying in state legislatures—in a sense, the opposite of the direct control that gives direct legislation its theoretical appeal. Yet, the clear effect is one of empowering voices that traditionally had very little effect in the legislative process. If greater representation is the goal of direct legislation, it is a clear success, even though that success does not really come in the act of ballot initiatives itself.

About this title

About the Author

Frederick J. Boehmke is assistant professor of political science at the University of Iowa, Iowa City. In August 2005 he will be Robert Wood Johnson Scholar in the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Edition details

• Publisher: Ohio State University Press
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0814257097
• ISBN 13: 9780814257098
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 232