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UNIVERSITY of CALGARY Populism and Federalism UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Populism and federalism: the interplay of direct democracy and federal institutions in Australia, Canada, Switzerland and the United States Theodore Henry Kamena, Jr. A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE CALGARY, ALBERTA APRIL, 2001 O Theodore Henry Karnena, Jr. 2001 National Libraty Bibliothéque nationale 1*1 of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Ottawa ON KI A ON4 Canada Canada Your nle Votre nllBme Our fi& Notre nlltimllcd The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sel1 reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microfom, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/^, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or othenvise de ceile-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. ABSTRACT This study examines the relationship between populism and federalism. In theory, these two conceptions of society are in conflict. Populism, in its most elemental fom, sees the state as a tool for the "will of the people." This will is seen as indivisible, indicating populism views society in a monist way. Federalism, on the other hand, recognizes diversity within the state through the division of sovereignty between the federal-level government and component parts of the state. Despite this theoretical conflict, however, populism, as operationalized by direct democracy, and federalism do CO-existin some federal states. To examine this CO-existence,this study uses data from ballot measures in four federal states - Australia, Canada, Switzerland, and the United States - using federal- level cases fiom Australia, Canada and Switzerland as well as sub-national cases fiom selected Swiss cantons and Arnerican states in the penod 1970-94. It also searches for intervening variables which may impact the relationship, focusing on the size of jurisdictions and the role of political parties. The study concludes that populist devices may CO-existwith federalism by serving as a check on national power, both through providing a popular check on legislative decisions and by restricting centralization in a federal system. Populism and federalism may also work together to provide different definitions of the "people" on different issues, but this is limited by the emergence and growth of both cooperative federalism and universal standards of rights. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project has been a part of my life for nearly seven years. 1 am grateful for the help and assistance of many people, 1 name but a few of them here. During my 17-day visit to Switzerland in 1996,I was helped by many people. 1 am appreciative for the assistance of the staff of the Chancellerie dYEtatde Neuchatel, and the Staatskanslei in Kanton Luzem. In particular, 1wish to thank Josef Koch of the Staatskanslei for his patience in the face of a language barrier, and Alexandre Treschel of the Centre for the Study of Direct Democracy for his explmation of the einzelinitiative in Zurich. 1 also wish to thank the University of Calgary for the travel grant which made the visit possible. 1 am grateful as well to Campbell Sharman and Joel D. Sherman for their electronic correspondences, to Fred Wall for his assistance in gathering data from the Angus Reid Group, to Carrie Sullivan for three invaluable months of aid as my research assistant, and Jan-Peter Schernrnel for his translation of much of the German language matenal. 1 am thankful to the members of my cornmittee, whose suggestions have vastly improved this work. And without Roger Gibbins, my Ph.D, advisor, 1 never would have reached this point. 1 want to thank everyone in the political science department at Western Washington University. It shall forever be my home, no rnatter where life may take me. Thanks in particular to Gene Hogan for his incredible flexibility in finding ways for me to serve; to Todd Donovan, for being an incredible resource and sounding board on direct democracy; and most of al1 to Don Alper, who provided me avenues for pursuing my interest in Canadian politics from my first term as an undergraduate. Finally, thanks to my wife, Christie and sons, Trevor and Derek. Christie, you have survived seven years of this, two of them far from other loved ones. 1love al1 three of you more every day. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 .INTRODUCTION ................................................................. 1 Questions to be raised .............................................................2 Selection of data .....................................................................3 CHAPTER 2 - POPULISM .....................................................................13 What is populism? ..................................................................13 Rousseau and the "general will" .................................18 The virtue of the "common people" ..............................20 The critique of representative democracy .......................24 Populist support of direct democracy ............................ 28 The use of direct democracy ......................................32 Differences in populist nature of referendums & initiatives ..37 Conclusion .......................................................................... -38 CHAPTER 3 - FEDERALISM ...................................................................42 What is federalism? ................................................................42 Why federalism? ...................................................................-48 A federalist conception of society ................................................54 Cooperative federalism ..................... ..................................... 59 Why federalism is worth studying .................................................62 CHAPTER 4 - POPULISM AND FEDERALISM ............................................66 Madison's critique of populism ...................................................67 The shared liberty of federalism and populism ..................................70 The CO-existenceof federalism and populism ..................................72 CHAPTER 5 - POPULISM VERSUS FEDERALISM .......................................90 Cooperative federalism ............................................................-90 Populism's problem with cooperative federalism ............91 Canada .............................................................95 United States .......................................................97 Australia ...........................................................99 Switzerland .......................................................101 Minority rights .....................................................................105 The issue of size ....................................................................110 Conclusion ........................................................................ 114 CHAPTER 6 - NATIONAL DISTINCTNENESS AND CASE STUDIES .............117 Switzerland ........................................................................117 Federalism in Switzerland .....................................121 Direct democracy ...............................................124 Australia ...........................................................................132 Introduction of the constitutional referendurn ..............133 Referendums and Commonwealth power .................... 134 Political parties and the referendum ........................ 137 Australia and Switzerland compared .........................................-139 Canada ...........................................................................-141 The 1942 conscription plebiscite ............................142 Charlottetown Accord ......................................... 145 Role of the parties ............................149 Decentralization ..............................151 Complexity ....................................152 United States ...................................................................-154 Minorities .................................................... -154 The upward movement of issues ............................157 Conclusions ....................................................................-161 CHAPTER 7 - CONCLUSION .................................................................165 The questions raised ..........................................................-165 Toward a "populist federalism"? .............................................170 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................173 APPENDIX 1 .................................................................................... 180 APPENDIX 2 ......................... ..........................................................184 vii CHAPTER ONE - INTRODUCTION In the 1990s, the Reform Party of Canada made a dramatic rise to prominence,
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