The Impact of Direct Democracy on Society - Universität St.Gallen

– 26 –Looking at the development <strong>of</strong> the statutory initiative and the constitutional initiative, threeinteresting changes should be noted. First, more and more cantons list these two existing types<strong>of</strong> initiatives under the identical heading in their constitution in order to group them togetherand indicate them as two possible variations <strong>of</strong> a people's initiative. This integration isparticularly true for most <strong>of</strong> the new constitutions, and is part <strong>of</strong> a trend to make constitutionsmore transparent to the average citizen. In the old constitutions, the description <strong>of</strong> the people'srights was subject to a strict constitutional structure that reflected the organization <strong>of</strong> the stateas understood in the nineteenth century. Traditionally, revisions <strong>of</strong> the constitution (includingrevisions initiated by the people) were given a separate chapter in the back part <strong>of</strong> theconstitution, not only symbolically almost outside the daily law-making process. <strong>The</strong> statutoryinitiative, in contrast, was placed in the middle, linked to the legislative process. For thisreason, integrating both initiatives under one heading constitutes not only a formal change butindicates a change in the underlying philosophy and understanding <strong>of</strong> the purpose <strong>of</strong> aconstitution.Linked to this change is a second phenomenon: the introduction <strong>of</strong> the unitary initiative(Einheitsinitiative) (e.g. in St. Gallen art. 43 <strong>of</strong> the new constitution), which also aims to makeit easier for the citizens to influence the legislative process. <strong>The</strong> unitary initiative is a bindingmotion <strong>of</strong> the electorate for which no specific legal form is required. During the readings(Lesungen) for the new cantonal constitution in St. Gallen, the introduction <strong>of</strong> theEinheitsinitiative was under hot debate and the most important aspects <strong>of</strong> this institution werenamed (PROTOCOL 2000, PROTOCOL 2000a). According to the various speakers, theadvantages <strong>of</strong> this new type <strong>of</strong> initiative are that it is relatively easy to carry out and that it isthe legislative organ and not the initiator who decides whether a change in cantonal law or incantonal constitution is the appropriate (re)action. This latter means that unitary initiatives canno longer be turned down on the formal ground that the wrong level <strong>of</strong> law-making had beenchosen by the initiators, e.g. the proposal <strong>of</strong> a change in cantonal law when an amendment <strong>of</strong>the constitution would have been correct and vice versa. Additionally, the Einheitsinitiativeallows the development <strong>of</strong> the cantonal law and the constitution in a juristically consistent andsystematic way.Nevertheless, the Einheitsinitiative should not be seen as a perfect substitute for the traditionalinitiatives, because it serves purely as a device to induce the cantonal parliament to becomeactive. Both statutory and constitutional initiatives are viewed as stronger instruments than theEinheitsinitiative because both the legal level <strong>of</strong> application and the content <strong>of</strong> the change are