Direct Democracy in Europe

Abstract

Are the relations between citizens and politicians in a strictly representative democracy (RD, e.g. Finland) different from those in a democracy which combines representative and well-designed direct democracy (DD, e.g. Switzerland)? In which ways do the two political systems contribute to the formation of the personality structure (habitus) and of the collective ideas and images of the two groups? What influence do RD and DD have on the self-esteem and political competence, as well as on the representations of political competence, of politicians and citizens? On what kind of image of the human being are they based?