Dataset on communal popular initiatives in Germany for the year 2018

The dataset is created for the year 2018 in Germany for 267 popular initiatives at the local level where the information was collected regarding the following variables: topic of initiative, State legislation, turnout, validity of the initiative, success of the popular initiative, proportion of yes voters in case of a referendum, size of municipality, profile of initiators (local council or citizens), proportion of no voters, index of mobilization, repartition index (difference between yes and no voters), approval rate, number of inhabitants, correction of initiative, status of the case (open/closed). The dataset was created with the help of the existing popular initiatives registered by the University of Wuppertal and the association Mehr Demokratie in Germany. The idea of the dataset is to evaluate in details on which factors the success of popular initiatives depend in the different German States (Länder). A repartition index (difference between yes and no voters) and a mobilization index (repartition index multiplied by the turnout) were calculated and added in the dataset. All the other variables were also created in order to balance the result of these initiatives. The final aim is to be able to measure how direct democratic tools influence local politics in Germany. This is why it is important to examine the prevailing factors for the satisfaction of citizens who use these procedures. In this dataset, the destiny of an initiative (failure/success) can be taken as the dependent variable and all the others could be classified as independent variables.Direct democracy offers possibilities for citizens to influence political decisions especially at the local level. In Germany, the local political systems have been affected by the introduction of direct democratic tools such as citizen initiatives and local referenda since the Reunification. The State legislations defined new conditions for citizen initiatives and municipal referenda with a minimum number of valid signatures for initiatives and a minimum approval rate for the referenda. In the attached file, you will find the dataset in Excel file as well as a .dta file that you can open with the software Stata (https://www.stata.com/).本数据集针对2018年德国境内267项地方层面的民众倡议（popular initiatives）构建，共收集以下变量的相关信息：倡议主题、州级立法、投票率、倡议有效性、民众倡议成功情况、公投场景下的赞成票占比、市镇规模、倡议发起者背景（地方议会或公民）、反对票占比、动员指数、得票差指数（赞成票与反对票的差值）、通过率、居民数量、倡议修正情况、案件状态（未结案/已结案）。 本数据集的构建依托伍珀塔尔大学（University of Wuppertal）与德国更多民主协会（Mehr Demokratie）登记的现有民众倡议数据。 本数据集旨在详细探究德国各联邦州（Länder）内民众倡议的成功影响因素。研究人员计算并新增了得票差指数（赞成票与反对票的差值）与动员指数（得票差指数乘以投票率）两项指标；其余所有变量的构建均为平衡各类民众倡议的结果。 本数据集的最终目标是量化直接民主工具对德国地方政治的影响。正因如此，探究使用此类民主程序的公民满意度的核心影响因素，具备重要研究价值。 本数据集可将民众倡议的最终结果（失败/成功）作为因变量（dependent variable），其余变量均归类为自变量（independent variable）。 直接民主为公民影响政治决策提供了可行路径，尤其在地方治理领域。自两德统一以来，公民倡议与地方公投等直接民主工具的引入，对德国地方政治体系产生了深远影响。德国各联邦州立法为公民倡议与市镇公投设定了明确规则：民众倡议需满足最低有效签名数要求，公投则需达到最低通过率方可生效。 附件中包含本数据集的Excel格式文件，以及可通过Stata统计软件（https://www.stata.com/）打开的.dta格式文件。