Reflections of a party scholar on direct democracy and the direct democracy literature

In a seminal work, E.E. Schattschneider identified three functions that political parties can (and sometimes do) perform in representative democracies. His list included simplifying the alternatives, educating the public, and promoting accountable governance. This paper proceeds from the premise that disquiet about direct democracy is, in part, because it may interfere with parties performing these functions that contribute to democracy's success. Drawing from the contributions to this Special Issue, this paper considers how well these functions are performed in direct elections that are often not organized by parties and the challenges that ballot initiatives and referendums otherwise pose to party government. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.