Are Legislators Afraid of Initiatives? Anticipation and Reaction in the Policy Process

Abstract

This research considers how and when the popular initiative constrains legislative behavior and policy. I develop a spatial model of the policy process in which legislators anticipate the possibility that an initiative may be proposed in response to laws they pass. I use the model to identify conditions under which the initiative forces legislators to respond to citizen preferences. I conclude that features of the initiative process, especially electoral laws that affect the costs of proposing initiatives, as well as the preferences of political actors, largely determine whether legislators will be constrained.

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