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Professor Reuven Brenner discusses how direct democracy has brought about greater accountability to Switzerland. But California's attempt has placed two conflicting propositions on its ballot, potentially confusing voters.

Besides the cheese-like, full-of-holes bank-secrecy tradition, the Swiss have a less publicized secret: They uniquely practice direct democracy through referenda and initiative. If anyone wonders why one hears more of minuscule Monaco's or Luxemburg's politics than of Switzerland's, the answer lies in this secret.

But the referenda and initiatives in the United States, in California particularly, are significantly different from their Swiss precedent. Whereas the Swiss have solved one of the major problems using this political process, Western democracies still face the issue of how much government should spend, and on what.

If Californians hold restoring accountability first and foremost in their minds when voting Tuesday, they may set another national trend that will lead to the adoption of the tools of direct democracy in other states. The result may have historical significance when one considers that, prior to the Great Depression, both the U.S. and Canada were increasingly relying upon referenda and initiatives to resolve political issues.

Read full article: , November 1, 2010