Mapping the European Landscape of Citizens’ Initiatives

Rising public dissatisfaction with representative democracy has sparked interest in bottom-up forms of direct democracy, such as citizens’ initiatives. Yet, systematic data on actual practice remain scarce. This article maps citizens’ initiatives across 46 Council of Europe states, covering both agenda initiatives and citizen-initiated referendums. Drawing on an original database of nearly 7’000 initiatives launched between 1990 and 2020, we reveal significantly higher levels of initiative activity than previously documented, primarily driven by agenda initiatives. However, we also identify high attrition rates: many proposals fail at admissibility or signature stages, with only a small fraction ultimately approved. These findings complicate prevailing assumptions about direct democracy’s accessibility and impact, highlighting obstacles that undermine the potential for democratic innovation. By identifying these challenges, this research contributes to deeper understanding of how institutional design impacts on democratic practice in contemporary Europe.