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<p>This paper examines whether and how direct-democratic instruments are associated with institutional trust. We argue that trust should be higher where citizens possess formal opportunities to create or control political outcomes, as such instruments can enhance perceived political agency and help align policy with public preferences. To evaluate this proposition, we exploit subnational variation in direct-democratic participation rights across Switzerland’s 26 cantons. Combining cantonal-level indices of de jure initiative and referendum instruments with individual-level survey data, we assess how institutional design relates to trust in a broad set of institutions. The results show that stronger direct-democratic rights are consistently associated with higher trust in the institution directly subject to these rights, while trust in vertically or horizontally distant institutions remains largely unaffected. Disaggregated analyses further reveal that both creation- and control-based instruments contribute to this pattern, but only the distinctly control-oriented component retains an independent association with trust once their shared variance is removed.</p>

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Empowering the principal: how direct democracy shapes trust in institutions

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年3月17日

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  • Fabian Kuhn,
  • Benno Torgler

摘要

This paper examines whether and how direct-democratic instruments are associated with institutional trust. We argue that trust should be higher where citizens possess formal opportunities to create or control political outcomes, as such instruments can enhance perceived political agency and help align policy with public preferences. To evaluate this proposition, we exploit subnational variation in direct-democratic participation rights across Switzerland’s 26 cantons. Combining cantonal-level indices of de jure initiative and referendum instruments with individual-level survey data, we assess how institutional design relates to trust in a broad set of institutions. The results show that stronger direct-democratic rights are consistently associated with higher trust in the institution directly subject to these rights, while trust in vertically or horizontally distant institutions remains largely unaffected. Disaggregated analyses further reveal that both creation- and control-based instruments contribute to this pattern, but only the distinctly control-oriented component retains an independent association with trust once their shared variance is removed.