Setting the Initiative Agenda: The Not-So-Silent Majority

摘要

This research examines how the initiative agenda is set in Colorado and why groups and individuals turn to the initiative process. The mobilization of bias of the initiative process favors well-organized groups that seek policies that are likely to command the support of the majority of the voting public, not 'special interests.' The ballot initiative is used for both the horizontal and vertical escalation of conflict. Policy entrepreneurs use the initiative to threaten the vertical escalation of conflict when state legislators or other groups whose interests are currently favored within the legislature neglect to consider their interests. However, the initiative process is primarily used to facilitate the vertical escalation of conflict to the public. Unlike the agenda setting process associated with representative government, policy entrepreneurs, the public, and interest groups exercise the greatest influence over the initiative agenda. If there is an 'ultimate guardian' of the initiative agenda, it is the voting public.