Abstract
Educated by Initiative: The Effects of Direct Democracy on
Citizens and Political Organizations in the American States. By
Daniel A. Smith and Caroline J. Tolbert. Ann Arbor: The University of
Michigan Press, 2004. 252p. $65.00 cloth, $22.95 paper. Throughout the mid-1980s, empirical state-level initiative studies
were sufficiently rare that David Magleby's now classic book
(Direct Legislation: Voting on Ballot Propositions in the United
States, 1984) addressed topics as varied as the status of direct
democracy laws, the impact of various cues on voting choices, and the
readability of ballot pamphlets. Research on the initiative process
subsequently burgeoned, and direct democracy has become one of the most
widely considered aspects of state politics. Quantitative studies have
focused especially on the substantive impact of the initiative process on
public policy, as well as on the extent to which campaign contributions
influence electoral outcomes.