Referendums in Germany are an element of direct democracy. On the federal level only two types of a mandatory binding referendum exist – in changing the constitution and in changing the state territories.
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All states have an enacted laws for popular indirect initiatives allowing to collect signatures for a request to the government. The government may issue a poll on any topic whereas the outcome is usually non-binding. The German referendum system has three types
The term Volksinitiative (people's initiative) is a synonym of Volksbegehren and it is the official term in Switzerland. On the municipal level the three types are paralleled with
Note that in the city states the state citizens' initiative types are commonly called Bürgerbegehren while being at the same legal level as Volksbegehren in other Bundesländer states. Note that the term "Bürgerinitiative" (literally citizens' initiative) is used informally for non-partisan local campaign organizations (political action groups).
Federal Concept
Following World War II the new republic was founded with only minor elements of direct democracy. On the federal level there are only two mandatory constitutional referendum types – one is in case of enacting a new constitution (although changes to the constitution do not require a public vote and there is no provision for an initiative for a constitutional amendment) that has never been used although there was an argument in that direction during German reunification. The other type requires a public vote in case of restructuring the Bundesländer (states) ("Neugliederung des Bundesgebietes") which led to a referendum on the union of Baden and Württemberg into Baden-Württemberg in 1951 (accepted) and a referendum on the union of Berlin and Brandenburg into Berlin-Brandenburg in 1996 (rejected).
Bundesländer
Originally none of the Bundesländer states had provisions for a general binding referendum ("Volksentscheid"). Only Hesse and Bavaria have a mandatory binding referendum on changes to the state constitution. Most states do however have a form of a general non-binding ballot question ("Volksbefragung") which has been used rarely however – the most important one had been the Saar Statute referendum, 1955.
General forms of direct democracy were first introduced in the communities with facultative ballot questions ("Bürgerbefragung") and public initiatives ("Bürgerbegehren") that are both non-binding. In some areas this has been expanded into a binding referendum type ("Bürgerentscheid") but almost universally facultative.
In some states there is however a general right on state popular initiatives ("Volksbegehren") which was used in Hamburg to push the state government to pass a law on a facultative binding state referendum ("Volksentscheid") in 2007.
Initiative Quorum
Following World War II the right to petition to the government was installed with high barriers. Any popular initiative had to filed with the authorities and the signatories have to identify before their signature is accepted. This is called "Amtseintragung" (literally administration inscription) in most legal areas. The other type is commonly referred to as "Freie Sammlung" (literally free collection) where letters may be accumulated before being handed over. Naturally some of the latter signatures are found to be illegal which can be a source of dispute.
In order to push the government the initiative must reach a certain amount of valid signatures. The "quorum" is defined differently by each Bundelsländer state.