Direkte Demokratie und Menschenrechte

Gebhard Kirchgässner

University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2009 from Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen

Abstract: There is a basic tension between the principle of democracy and the rule of law. This becomes obvious whenever the Swiss citizens accept an initiative that is incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. First, we discuss the traditions behind these two principles before we survey the empirical papers about the relation between direct democracy and minority rights in the US as well as in Switzerland. Then we discuss the literature on the relation between direct democracy and death penalty. There, the conflict becomes rather obvious. Solutions, which will always involve compromises between these two principles, necessitate some role of the Supreme Court, at the cost of some, but only minor limitations of direct popular rights.

Keywords: Direct Democracy; Human Rights; Constitution; Rule of Law (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H11 H72 H74 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 23 pages
Date: 2009-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm, nep-ger and nep-pol
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Working Paper: Direkte Demokratie und Menschenrechte (2009)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:usg:dp2009:2009-27

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