How citizens decide in direct-democratic votes

According to Schumpeter’s extraordinarily influential ‘realistic’ theory of representative democracy, democracy is essentially a method for vesting in certain individuals the power to make binding political. The essence of representative democracy is the ability of citizens to replace one government by another and, hence, to hold the political decision-makers accountable to them. For Schumpeter and his followers, it is not only natural, but also desirable that the role of the citizens in the political process be narrowly circumscribed. Therefore, the supporters of the ‘realist’ theory of democracy have always been highly sceptical about direct-democratic procedures. They simply do not believe that citizens are sufficiently qualified for direct participation in political decision-making. Citizens tend to be little interested in politics and badly informed about it. However, this does not mean that they are unable to make meaningful political decisions. I shall argue that citizens can make meaningful decision, because their choices are simplified and pre-structured by the institutional setting and by the heuristic cues and the arguments provided by the political elites.