Rettet die Bienen!

“Save the bees!”—Thanks to these iconic insects, the referendums in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg became the most successful direct-democratic initiatives in those states to date. Not only were nature conservation and other laws amended to limit the ongoing decline of insect populations, but direct democratic and corporatist innovations were also established: they formed the basis for a reconciliation process among the conflicting positions of political parties, associations, and civil society. This book analyzes the procedures, content, and lines of discourse of both referendums.
Thomas M. Klotz is a research associate at the Associate Professorship of Policy Analysis at the Munich School of Politics and Public Policy.