Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the issues surrounding direct democracy on the local and state levels, in an effort to determine whether or not wealthy interest groups influence referendums, ballot initiatives, and other forms of direct legislation at the expense of the broader public interest. The paper looks at the issue from both viewpoints, citing that many people believe that direct legislation has been taken over by the very same wealthy interests whose power it was created to decrease, while many counter that big spending does not necessarily mean big influence.

From the Paper:

"The referendum refers to the power of the people to approve or reject acts of the legislature (Knutsen, 2002). Referendum comes in several forms depending on the nature of the legislation to which it applies. The referendum can be broken down into four dimensions: form of legislation (including constitutional amendments, ordinary statutes, and fiscal issues), initiator (including citizens, legislature, the president and the states), advisory or binding, and voluntary or compulsory."

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