Direct Democracy and Party Membership: Testing the Role of Political Efficacy

Abstract

The declines in political party memberships along with an increase in direct democracy have drawn numerous scholarly discussions. Previous literature has explored the relationship between direct democracy and party membership, but the role of political efficacy in shaping this relationship has not been systematically examined. In particular, direct democracy can increase political efficacy by enhancing citizens’ civic skills and perceptions about government responsiveness and indirectly raise citizens’ interests in joining political parties. Using the structural equation model, this study shows that political efficacy strongly correlates with direct democracy and plays a significant role in influencing the effect of direct democracy on party membership. Moreover, results from the bootstrap mediation test of examining potential causal inferences suggest that there are distinct differences in the indirect effects of direct democracy mediated by internal efficacy and external efficacy on party membership.