Facts and Arguments about the Introduction of Initiative and ...

Perhaps there are two reasons why Aristotle’s ideas about
happiness (of which more below) were not generally shared.
On the one hand, failure to satisfy the basic needs leads to
fixation on the gratification of those needs, which means that
the ‘inversion’ towards the gratification of the meta-needs
does not take place. Striving for pleasure then becomes a
surrogate for the striving for happiness. On the other hand,
there is also the reality of evil. Maslow speaks of the ‘Jonas
complex’: the wilful clinging to the basic needs and the conscious
waiving of the meta-needs as motivators for our actions.
That seemed to him to be the key to the evil behaviour
of humans. Aristotle also knew about evil: “…there is found
[in men] another element naturally opposed to the rational
principle, which fights against and resists that principle. For
exactly as paralysed limbs, when we intend to move them to
the right, turn on the contrary to the left, so is it with the soul;
the impulses of incontinent people move in contrary directions.
But while in the body we see that which moves astray,
in the soul we do not. No doubt, however, we must nonetheless
suppose that in the soul too there is something contrary
to the rational principle, resisting and opposing it.”
The reality of evil demands courage from politicians. The
expression ‘political courage’ usually suggests a situation in
which ‘unpopular measures’ have to be implemented against
the will of the people. This is not courage, but the undemocratic
abuse of power. It is not courage, but cowardice, to
avoid a confrontation with an idea that you consider wrong.
Such ideas can only be defeated in an open democratic debate,
in a contest of ideas. Those who avoid the contest, and
instead seek to ensure victory by a show of force, only succeed
in the long run in strengthening the malevolent forces
in society. A political culture, in which the use of power by
one person over another is accepted, is the natural biotope
for evil. Real political courage does not consist in dealing
with ideas thought to be wrong or harmful by using power,
but rather by conducting open contests of ideas. People who
have real political courage learn to recognise evil, but do not
allow themselves to be frightened off by it. Opposing evil, political
courage strives for a society in which the human desire
for strong democracy and real involvement are satisfied.
Democracy and happiness
Happiness has also been studied quantitatively. Frey and
Stutzer (2002) provide a good overview of the most significant
findings.
Happiness can be measured, of course, in the sense that you
can just ask people how happy they are. Asking people to rate
their general feeling of happiness on a scale from ‘entirely unhappy’
to ‘perfectly happy’ produces consistent and very useful
results. People who consider themselves more than averagely
happy are also rated by other people as happier. They smile
more, are healthier, have fewer days off work, make social contacts
more easily, etc. (Frey and Stutzer, 2002, p. 33). There are
many different factors that have an effect on happiness.
Absolute wealth does not affect happiness, once a certain
minimum has been achieved that allows the primary needs
to be satisfied. In Japan, for example, real per capita income
increased sixfold during the second half of the twentieth century,
but this did not cause any increase in Japanese people’s
average sense of happiness. Relative wealth, on the other
hand, does have an effect on the feeling of happiness. People
who are poorer than their neighbours will, on average,
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be less happy. On average, women are happier than men,
married people are happier than unmarried people, people
who believe in God are a bit happier than disbelievers, people
who watch television a lot are on average unhappier than
occasional viewers, and inhabitants of richer countries are
usually happier than inhabitants of poorer countries.
Unemployment induces a very considerable loss of happiness.
On a scale from 1 (not at all satisfied) to 4 (very satisfied),
unemployment causes an average drop of about 0.33
[units]. This is the decline in the feeling of happiness due
solely to unemployment i.e. after adjustments have been
made for other factors, such as loss of income (Frey and
Stutzer, 2002, p. 97). We can understand this effect in the
light of the theories of Maslow and Aristotle. Work is an important
opportunity for self-actualization for many people.
It offers the opportunity, in the Aristotelian sense, to practice
virtuous behaviour. This is confirmed by other studies,
which indicate that people who are self-employed feel happier
than people who work for an employer and who consequently
have less control over the circumstances of their
work. It is not only a person’s own unemployment, but also
that of other people that affects the feeling of happiness:
“...a one-percentage-point increase in the general rate of
unemployment from 9 percent (the European mean) to 10
percent reduces the declared level of satisfaction with life
by 0.028 units on the four-point scale applied.” (Frey and
Stutzer, 2002, p.101).
Do citizens feel happier on average when they have the opportunity
to decide on issues directly by referendum? A comparative
study of the 26 Swiss cantons, which offer significantly
different levels of opportunity for citizens to participate
directly in legislation, provides an answer to this question.
Frey and Stutzer reduced the extent to which direct decisionmaking
is possible to a single parameter, the values of which
can vary from 1 (not democratic) to 6 (very democratic). The
canton of Basel-Landschaft (the predominantly rural area
around the city of Basle) had the highest score (5.69) and the
canton of Geneva the lowest (1.75). As well as using all sorts
of other factors that reflect the demographic and economic
differences between the cantons, Frey and Stutzer also applied
another scale with ten gradations, which mark the degree
of municipal autonomy in each canton.
The results show that citizens in the more democratic cantons
are significantly happier on average. An increase of a
single point on the 1 to 6 scale corresponds to an increase
in the feeling of happiness by 0.11 units, which matches the
effect of a transition from the lowest income category (below
2000 Swiss francs a month) to the next higher income category
(from 2000 to 3000 Swiss francs a month).
More municipal autonomy also leads to an increase in reported
happiness. However, Frey and Stutzer found that the
two parameters are not independent of each other: it appears
that in cantons with more direct democracy, greater municipal
autonomy also seems to have arisen over time. This corresponds
with the overall finding that politicians generally
tend to aim for less local autonomy and more centralisation,
whereas citizens usually desire more local autonomy.
The increase in the feeling of happiness has a general character:
“The positive effect of direct democracy on happiness
applies to all income classes, and is not restricted to a particular
one (...) The benefits are distributed rather evenly
among social classes.” (Frey and Stutzer, p. 145, 149).