When the People’s Needs Are Not Listened to: Istanza d’Arengo on the Background of Other Forms of Direct Democracy in San Marino

Abstract

The subject of the article is the issue of the practice of using the Istanza d’Arengo institution in San Marino. The author will undertake attempts to assess to what extent this institution is used to implement ideas that were not taken up in the other two forms of direct democracy (referendum and civic legislative initiative). However, the subject of interest will not be all initiatives, but only a specific category (moral and ideological issues). The author will investigate how true the sentence is that Istanza d’Arengo is the best tool for the citizens of the Republic to solve world-view issues. The time range from the end of October 2012 to October 2018 was adopted for the analysis, and the comparative analysis was based on all three forms of direct democracy.