The C2D was founded in 1993 at the Department of Constitutional Law of the University of Geneva and became a part of the new centre for democracy studies in Aarau ZDA in September 2007. The C2D is grateful to the Law Department of the University of Geneva for hosting the centre for 15 years and letting it develop into what it is today. The centre consists of researchers in law and political science who have devoted their research interests to direct democracy as a form of contemporary democracy.