Prospects for Transnational Direct Democracy—Exploring the New European Approach to Citizens’ Power beyond the Nation-State

Kaufmann, Bruno

doi:10.1007/978-3-531-90579-2_11

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Overall, direct democracy is in ascendance worldwide (see, for example, Butler and Ranney, 1994;Kaufmann et al, 2004;Qvortrup, 2017). Whether in the form of a referendum initiated by a political body or as an initiative by a citizens' petition, popular votes on issues are commonly regarded as the most authoritative expression of the popular will (Leininger, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

When do consultative referendums improve democracy? Evidence from local referendums in Norway

Folkestad

Klausen

Saglie³

et al. 2019

International Political Science Review

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Consultative referendums may provide crucial information about public opinion but have received little attention in the literature compared with their binding counterparts. In this article, we analyse 221 Norwegian local consultative referendums on municipal amalgamation using the Venice Commission’s code on referendums. Much of the referendum literature suggests that consultative referendums are in fact binding. The municipal councils followed the outcomes of the referendums in most cases, but 14% chose to go against it. While the overall impression is that the outcomes of consultative referendums are seen as binding, the data indicate that ballot design may affect voters’ choice as well as council decisions. Although many democratic standards were met, the wording of questions and alternatives on the ballot paper were problematic in a number of cases – reducing the democratic value of the citizens’ advice.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

When do consultative referendums improve democracy? Evidence from local referendums in Norway

Folkestad

Klausen

Saglie³

et al. 2019

International Political Science Review

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show abstract

“…8 The basic idea behind the creation of initiative instruments is to provide a counterpoint to elitist policy making by opening additional channels of political participation. This idea may, however, be met with reticence on behalf of the political elites who are in charge of deciding on the specific institutional design of these instruments.…”

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confidence: 99%

Obstacles to citizen participation by direct democracy in Latin America: a comparative regional analysis of legal frameworks and evidence from the Costa Rican case

Breuer

2011

Democratization

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Starting from the 1980s, institutions of direct democracy were introduced into most Latin American constitutions. To date, the practical application of these institutions remains almost exclusively restricted to the subtype of government plebiscites while the use of citizen initiated instruments remains scarce. To explain the region's low frequency of use of citizen initiated instruments of direct democracy this explorative study proceeds in three sections. The first recapitulates regulatory legislation on, and practical experience with direct democracy in Latin America. The second proposes and applies an index for the comparative measurement of legal obstacles provided by institutional frameworks and goes on to discuss further explanatory propositions on factors that may interact with these legal obstacles to obstruct direct democratic citizen participation. Finally, these hypotheses are tested through an interview-based study with actors involved in the recent practical experience with direct democracy in Costa Rica. The study concludes that the institutional design of citizen initiated instruments of direct democracy alone does not suffice to explain the frequency of their practical application. Rather than this, application frequency appears to be a function of the combined interactive effects of legal institutional factors with sociological and political party factors such as strategic action preferences and party elites' attitudes.

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The Transnational Spillovers from Pledging EU Referendums: The Case of the European Constitution

Oppermann

2012

Direct Democracy and Minorities

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Prospects for Transnational Direct Democracy—Exploring the New European Approach to Citizens’ Power beyond the Nation-State

Cited by 4 publications

References 3 publications

When do consultative referendums improve democracy? Evidence from local referendums in Norway

When do consultative referendums improve democracy? Evidence from local referendums in Norway

Obstacles to citizen participation by direct democracy in Latin America: a comparative regional analysis of legal frameworks and evidence from the Costa Rican case

The Transnational Spillovers from Pledging EU Referendums: The Case of the European Constitution

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