Do Referendums Enhance Or Threaten Democracy

Author : Birte Müller-Heidelberg
Publisher : GRIN Verlag
Page : 19 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2003-12-03
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9783638237222

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Do referendums enhance or threaten democracy? by Birte Müller-Heidelberg Pdf

Essay from the year 2003 in the subject Politics - Topic: European Union, grade: B, University of Bath (European Studies and Modern Languages), language: English, abstract: In some countries, the Euro has been established without consulting the citizens. Discussions on whether this has been a fair and fully legal step made by elected representatives in a democracy or whether people should have been asked before passing such a major reform are ongoing. The convent has come up with a first proposal for a European Constitution. While several countries are preparing their referendums on it, Germany’s chancellor Gerhard Schröder simply stated, he is against a referendum – no reasons given. Switzerland uses referendums as a regular instrument to let people decide about single political issues. Countries as Sweden and Denmark use them at least once in a while. Others, such as Germany, have never had a referendum in their history. Although these differences between nation states are obvious, there has been a revival of the idea of referendums as an instrument of direct democracy in the last decades. In some states used, in others only discussed, referendums are a topic again. This essay analyses the question whether referendums enhance or threaten democracy by taking a closer look at the pro and contra arguments used in the literature, essays and newspaper articles through which sociologists fight their battle about the subject. After pointing out some of the reasons for the current rise of referendums in general (2), chapter 3 will deal with the chances (3.1) and dangers (3.2) of referendums. This analysis will lead to a conclusion and judgement of referendums (4). In chapter 5, a short outlook will be given on the function of referendums in the ever closer European Union.

Author : David Altman
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 283 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2019
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781108496636

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Citizenship and Contemporary Direct Democracy by David Altman Pdf

Offers a comparative study of the origins, performance, and reform of contemporary mechanisms of direct democracy.

Author : Stephen Tierney
Publisher : OUP Oxford
Page : 352 pages
File Size : 46,5 Mb
Release : 2012-04-05
Category : Law
ISBN : 9780191629082

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Constitutional Referendums by Stephen Tierney Pdf

The use of referendums around the world has grown remarkably in the past thirty years and, in particular, referendums are today deployed more than ever in the settlement of constitutional questions, even in countries with little or no tradition of direct democracy. This is the first book by a constitutional theorist to address the implications of this development for constitutional democracy in a globalizing age, when many of the older certainties surrounding sovereignty and constitutional authority are coming under scrutiny. The book identifies four substantive constitutional processes where the referendum is regularly used today: the founding of new states; the creation or amendment of constitutions; the establishment of complex new models of sub-state autonomy, particularly in multinational states; and the transfer of sovereign powers from European states to the European Union. The book, as a study in constitutional theory, addresses the challenges this phenomenon poses not only for particular constitutional orders, which are typically structured around a representative model of democracy, but for constitutional theory more broadly. The main theoretical focus of the book is the relationship between the referendum and democracy. It addresses the standard criticisms which the referendum is subjected to by democratic theorists and deploys both civic republican theory and the recent turn in deliberative democracy to ask whether by good process-design the constitutional referendum is capable of facilitating the engagement of citizens in deliberative acts of constitution-making. With the referendum firmly established as a fixture of contemporary constitutionalism, the book addresses the key question for constitutional theorists and practitioners of how might its operation be made more democratic in age of constitutional transformation.

Author : Andrew Ellis ,Carlos Navarro ,Isabel Morales ,Maria Gratschew, Nadja Braun
Publisher : International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA)
Page : 297 pages
File Size : 50,9 Mb
Release : 2007-11-14
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9789185391660

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Voting from Abroad by Andrew Ellis ,Carlos Navarro ,Isabel Morales ,Maria Gratschew, Nadja Braun Pdf

The constitutions of many countries guarantee the right to vote for all citizens. However, in reality, voters who are outside their home country when elections take place are often disenfranchised because of a lack of procedures enabling them to exercise that right. Voting from Abroad: The International IDEA Handbook examines the theoretical and practical issues surrounding external voting. It provides an overview of external voting provisions in 115 countries and territories around the world, including a map illustrating the regional spread.

Author : Mark E. Warren,Hilary Pearse
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 252 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 2008-02-07
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 0521885078

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Designing Deliberative Democracy by Mark E. Warren,Hilary Pearse Pdf

Is it possible to advance democracy by empowering ordinary citizens to make key decisions about the design of political institutions and policies? In 2004, the government of British Columbia embarked on a bold democratic experiment: it created an assembly of 160 near-randomly selected citizens to assess and redesign the province's electoral system. The British Columbia Citizens' Assembly represents the first time a citizen body has had the power to reform fundamental political institutions. It was an innovative gamble that has been replicated elsewhere in Canada and in the Netherlands, and is gaining increasing attention in Europe as a democratic alternative for constitution-making and constitutional reform. In the USA, advocates view citizens' assemblies as a means for reforming referendum processes. This book investigates the citizens' assembly in British Columbia to test and refine key propositions of democratic theory and practice.

Author : Hélène Landemore
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 272 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2022-03-08
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780691212395

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Open Democracy by Hélène Landemore Pdf

To the ancient Greeks, democracy meant gathering in public and debating laws set by a randomly selected assembly of several hundred citizens. To the Icelandic Vikings, democracy meant meeting every summer in a field to discuss issues until consensus was reached. Our contemporary representative democracies are very different. Modern parliaments are gated and guarded, and it seems as if only certain people are welcome. Diagnosing what is wrong with representative government and aiming to recover some of the openness of ancient democracies, Open Democracy presents a new paradigm of democracy. Supporting a fresh nonelectoral understanding of democratic representation, Hélène Landemore demonstrates that placing ordinary citizens, rather than elites, at the heart of democratic power is not only the true meaning of a government of, by, and for the people, but also feasible and, more than ever, urgently needed. -- Cover page 4.

Author : John G. Matsusaka
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 312 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2022-04-26
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780691199740

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Let the People Rule by John G. Matsusaka Pdf

How referendums can diffuse populist tensions by putting power back into the hands of the people Propelled by the belief that government has slipped out of the hands of ordinary citizens, a surging wave of populism is destabilizing democracies around the world. As John Matsusaka reveals in Let the People Rule, this belief is based in fact. Over the past century, while democratic governments have become more efficient, they have also become more disconnected from the people they purport to represent. The solution Matsusaka advances is familiar but surprisingly underused: direct democracy, in the form of referendums. While this might seem like a dangerous idea post-Brexit, there is a great deal of evidence that, with careful design and thoughtful implementation, referendums can help bridge the growing gulf between the government and the people. Drawing on examples from around the world, Matsusaka shows how direct democracy can bring policies back in line with the will of the people (and provide other benefits, like curbing corruption). Taking lessons from failed processes like Brexit, he also describes what issues are best suited to referendums and how they should be designed, and he tackles questions that have long vexed direct democracy: can voters be trusted to choose reasonable policies, and can minority rights survive majority decisions? The result is one of the most comprehensive examinations of direct democracy to date—coupled with concrete, nonpartisan proposals for how countries can make the most of the powerful tools that referendums offer. With a crisis of representation hobbling democracies across the globe, Let the People Rule offers important new ideas about the crucial role the referendum can play in the future of government.

Author : Robert Rohrschneider,Jacques Thomassen
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 731 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2020-07-28
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780192558695

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The Oxford Handbook of Political Representation in Liberal Democracies by Robert Rohrschneider,Jacques Thomassen Pdf

The Handbook of Political Representation in Liberal Democracies offers a state-of-the-art assessment of the functioning of political representation in liberal democracies. In 34 chapters the world's leading scholars on the various aspects of political representation address eight broad themes: The concept and theories of political representation, its history and the main requisites for its development; elite orientations and behavior; descriptive representation; party government and representation; non-electoral forms of political participation and how they relate to political representation; the challenges to representative democracy originating from the growing importance of non-majoritarian institutions and social media; the rise of populism and its consequences for the functioning of representative democracy; the challenge caused by economic and political globlization: what does it mean for the functioning of political representation at the national leval and is it possible to develop institutions of representative democracy at a level above the state that meet the normative criteria of representative democracy and are supported by the people? The various chapters offer a comprehensive review of the literature on the various aspects of political representation. The main organizing principle of the Handbook is the chain of political representation, the chain connecting the interests and policy preferences of the people to public policy via political parties, parliament, and government. Most of the chapters assessing the functioning of the chain of political representation and its various links are based on original comparative political research. Comparative research on political representation and its various subfields has developed dramatically over the last decades so that even ten years ago a Handbook like this would have looked totally different.

Author : Julie Smith
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 736 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 2021-03-02
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9783030558031

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The Palgrave Handbook of European Referendums by Julie Smith Pdf

This handbook provides an empirically rich analysis of referendums in Europe from the end of the Second World War to the present. It addresses a range of perennial theoretical and legal questions that face policy-makers when they offer citizens the chance to take or influence decisions by referendum, not least whether to accept the ‘will of the people’. Taking a multi-disciplinary approach, drawing on historical, philosophical and political science perspectives, the book includes a contextual section on the history of referendums, the theoretical questions underpinning their use, and on constitutional and legal questions about the use of referendums. The empirical sections are divided into those referendums that focus on domestic issues, such as constitutional matters or questions of social policy, and those related to the European Union, including membership referendums and treaty ratification.

Author : Great Britain. Parliament. House of Lords. Select Committee on the Constitution
Publisher : The Stationery Office
Page : 216 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2010
Category : Referendum
ISBN : 010845987X

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Referendums in the United Kingdom by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Lords. Select Committee on the Constitution Pdf

Author : David Altman
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 265 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2010-12-20
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781139495431

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Direct Democracy Worldwide by David Altman Pdf

Challenging the common assumption that models of direct democracy and representative democracy are necessarily at odds, Direct Democracy Worldwide demonstrates how practices of direct and representative democracy interact under different institutional settings and uncovers the conditions that allow them to coexist in a mutually reinforcing manner. Whereas citizen-initiated mechanisms of direct democracy can spur productive relationships between citizens and political parties, other mechanisms of direct democracy often help leaders bypass other representative institutions, undermining republican checks and balances. The book also demonstrates that the embrace of direct democracy is costly, may generate uncertainties and inconsistencies, and can be manipulated. Nonetheless, the promise of direct democracy should not be dismissed. Direct democracy is much more than a simple, pragmatic second choice when representative democracy seems not to be working as expected. Properly designed, it can empower citizens, breaking through some of the institutionalized barriers to accountability that arise in representative systems.

Author : Diego Abente Brun,Larry Diamond
Publisher : JHU Press
Page : 284 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2014-03
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781421412290

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Clientelism, Social Policy, and the Quality of Democracy by Diego Abente Brun,Larry Diamond Pdf

Abente Brun and Diamond invited some of the best social scientists in the field to systematically explore how political clientelism works and evolves in the context of modern developing democracies, with particular reference to social policies aimed at reducing poverty. Clientelism, Social Policy, and the Quality of Democracy is balanced between a section devoted to understanding clientelism's infamous effects and history in Latin America and a section that draws out implications for other regions, specifically Africa, Southeast Asia, and Eastern and Central Europe.

Author : Philippe C. Schmitter,Alexandre H. Trechsel,Council of Europe
Publisher : Council of Europe
Page : 140 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2004-01-01
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9287155704

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Avenir de la Démocratie en Europe by Philippe C. Schmitter,Alexandre H. Trechsel,Council of Europe Pdf

This publication examines a number of challenges and opportunities for democracy and democratic institutions throughout Europe, and makes 28 recommendations for reforms intended to improve government efficiency, transparency and accountability. Topics discussed include the impact of forces such as globalisation, European integration, migration and technological change; as well as issues such as citizenship (political discontent, cultural identity and protest), representation (political parties and civil society) and decision-making.

Author : Joseph Lacey
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 49,5 Mb
Release : 2017-03-31
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780192517142

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Centripetal Democracy by Joseph Lacey Pdf

Centripetal democracy is the idea that legitimate democratic institutions set in motion forms of citizen practice and representative behaviour that serve as powerful drivers of political identity formation. Partisan modes of political representation in the context of multifaceted electoral and direct democratic voting opportunities are emphasised on this model. There is, however, a strain of thought predominant in political theory that doubts the democratic capacities of political systems constituted by multiple public spheres. This view is referred to as the lingua franca thesis on sustainable democratic systems (LFT). Inadequate democratic institutions and acute demands to divide the political system (through devolution or secession), are predicted by this thesis. By combining an original normative democratic theory with a comparative analysis of how Belgium and Switzerland have variously managed to sustain themselves as multilingual democracies, this book identifies the main institutional features of a democratically legitimate European Union and the conditions required to bring it about. Part One presents a novel theory of democratic legitimacy and political identity formation on which subsequent analyses are based. Part Two defines the EU as a demoi-cracy and provides a thorough democratic assessment of this political system. Part Three explains why Belgium has largely succumbed to the centrifugal logic predicted by the LFT, while Switzerland apparently defies this logic. Part Four presents a model of centripetal democracy for the EU, one that would greatly reduce its democratic deficit and ensure that this political system does not succumb to the centrifugal forces expected by the LFT.

Author : Daniele Caramani
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 617 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2014
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780199665990

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Comparative Politics by Daniele Caramani Pdf

"Comparative Politics" provides a comprehensive introduction to political systems around the world. It covers methods and theories; the nation-state; institutions; actors and processes; policies; and recent changes.