Facts and Arguments about the Introduction of Initiative and ...

The availability of the citizens’ initiative referendum can lead
to more happiness in two ways. On the one hand, direct decision-making
can lead to measures and laws that better reflect
the citizens’ wishes (‘outcome utility’). And on the other
hand, the opportunity to participate can itself be a source of
happiness. In this latter case, the benefit is known as ‘procedural
utility’ (benefit resulting from the decision-making
procedure itself). It was possible to measure the effects of
the two components separately by examining the happiness
scores of foreigners who live in the various cantons. Until
they have acquired Swiss citizenship, these people cannot
vote in referendums and therefore do not benefit from ‘procedural
utility’; but they do have to live with the effects of a
more or a less efficient administration. The research showed
that the non-Swiss citizens also reported a greater degree of
happiness in the more democratic cantons, but the increase
was less marked than with the Swiss citizens. The comparison
of the effects in both Swiss and non-Swiss citizens leads
to the conclusion that the largest proportion of the increase
in happiness results from the simple fact of being able to
4-1: Not by bread alone
How the Maslowian need for self-actualization can guide
behaviour is illustrated by the following anecdote (published
in the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper in Southern
Germany on 22 January 1997; see Schuster et al, 1997, p.
581): “Manuel Lubian, a Mexican taxi driver, has returned
the equivalent of some 44,000 Euros that a passenger had
left in his cab. Lubian spent two days hunting through the
hotels in the Mexican capital in order to find the owner of
the bag containing cash, jewels and important papers. He
refused the reward that the owner – a Bolivian senator –
wanted to give him: “I thought that if I accepted the reward
I would lose what is beautiful in myself.”
Kohn (1990) quotes two examples of life-saving interventions
by people who were not directly involved. A man who
jumped onto the track in the New York subway to rescue a
child from an approaching train told a reporter: “I would
have died inside if I had not acted immediately. I would
have considered myself worthless from then on.” In another
case, a man who dived into the Potomac River to rescue
a driver from a sinking car said: “I just couldn’t watch the
guy drown. I think I jumped into the water out of self-defence.
I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if he
had drowned and I had done nothing.” (p. 243)
These explanations point to a sometimes intensely experienced
need to respond to an inner call to help another person.
The extraordinary significance of Maslow’s meta-need
was already pointed to in the New Testament: “Man shall not
live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from
the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4). People really live from
responding to this call and ‘die inside’ if they ignore it.
Oliner and Oliner (1988) interviewed 406 people (‘rescuers’)
who assisted Jews in going into hiding during the Nazi
occupation in the Second World War, as well as a control
group of 126 people who were not involved in such activities.
In the majority of cases, the period of hiding lasted
for several years. The Oliners’ study revealed that the rescuers
showed one special characteristic: they had no difficulty
participate in the decision-making. The fact that the decisions
reached are more in line with the citizens’ wishes produces
a real benefit, but it is not as great as the procedural
utility: “...two-thirds of the positive effect of more extended
direct-democratic participation rights is due to procedural
utility. (…) The positive effect of participation rights is three
times larger for citizens than it is for the foreigners – that is,
a major part of the welfare gain from the favourable political
process is due to procedural utility.” (Frey and Stutzer, 2002,
p.161-162, 167)
It should come as no surprise that democracy in itself works
as a promoter of happiness. This is to be expected in the
light of Maslow’s theory. After all, people do not live by bread
alone. They also have the meta-need to take their common
fate into their own hands in solidarity with their fellow humans
and be able to play their part in the shaping of society
as individual moral beings. In Aristotelian terms: people
need democracy so that they can strive to behave virtuously
at a social level as well, and in this way find happiness.
in forging human relationships with people outside their
own circles (‘extensive relationships’). “What distinguished
rescuers was not their lack of concern with self, external
approval, or achievement, but rather their capacity for extensive
relationships – their stronger sense of attachment
to others and their feeling of responsibility for the welfare
of others, including those outside their immediate familial
or communal circles.” (p. 243)
The Oliners’ survey led them to conclude that this ‘extensive
personality’ blossomed in a specific family environment,
which they characterise as follows: “Parental discipline
tends towards leniency; children frequently experience it as
almost imperceptible. It includes a heavy dose of reasoning
– explanations of why behaviours are inappropriate, often
with reference to the consequences for others. Physical
punishment is rare; when used, it tends to be a singular
event rather than routine. Gratuitous punishment – punishment
that serves as a cathartic release of aggression for
the parent or is unrelated to the child’s behaviour – almost
never occurs. Simultaneously, however, parents set high
standards they expect their children to meet, particularly
with regard to caring for others. They implicitly or explicitly
communicate the obligation to help others in a spirit of generosity,
without concern for external rewards or reciprocity.
Parents themselves model such behaviours, not only in relation
to their children but also toward other family members
and neighbours. Because they are expected to care for and
about others while simultaneously being cared for, children
are encouraged to develop qualities associated with caring.
Dependability, responsibility, and self-reliance are valued
because they facilitate taking care of oneself as well as others.
Failures are regarded as learning experiences, with the
presumption of eventual mastery, rather than inherent deficiencies
of character, intellect, or skill. Out of such benevolent
experiences, children learn to trust those around them.
Securely rooted in their family relationships, they risk forming
intimate relationships outside it.”] (p. 249-250)
The background of the opposite type (the ‘restrictive’ personality)
is, according to the Oliners, usually characterised
by weak family relationships, much more corporal punish-