The Politics Of Referendum Use In European Democracies 1st Ed. 2019

This book demonstrates that the generally assumed dichotomy between referendums and representative democracy does not do justice to the great diversity of referendum types and of how referendums are used in European democracies. Although in all referendums citizens vote directly on issues rather than letting their political representatives do this for them, some referendums are more direct than others. Rather than reflecting the direct power of the People, most referendums in EU countries are held by, and serve the interests of, the political elites, most notably the executive. The book shows that these interests rarely match the justifications given in the public debate. Instead of being driven by the need to compensate for the deficiency of political parties, decision-makers use referendums primarily to protect the position of their party. In unravelling the strategic role played by national referendums in decision-making, this book makes an unconventional contribution to the debate on the impact of referendums on democracy. Saskia Hollander is a political scientist and Director of Knowledge Management at The Broker, a knowledge brokering organisation in the field of inclusive politics and economies, based in The Hague, The Netherlands. Her previous publications include the edited book Creative Crises of Democracy (with J. Gijsenbergh, T. Houwen and W. de Jong, 2012) Acknowledgements 6 Contents 9 Abbreviations 11 List of Figures 13 List of Tables 14 Chapter 1: Introduction: The Politics of Referendum Use in Europe 15 1.1 The Use of Referendums in European Democracies 15 1.2 A Direct Democracy Shift: Frequency and Form? 19 1.3 Referendums and the Crisis of Representative Democracy 23 1.4 A Framework for Analyzing Referendum Use 25 1.5 Research Design and Strategy 28 Frequent Referendum Users: France and Denmark 31 Sporadic Referendum Users: The UK and Sweden 31 No Constitutional Referendum Provisions: The Netherlands 33 1.6 Plan of the Book 34 Bibliography 35 Chapter 2: Referendums and Democratic Theory 41 2.1 Introduction 41 2.2 Four Ideal Types of Democracy 42 2.3 Direct Citizens’ Participation Versus Political Representation 44 2.4 Preference Aggregation Versus Preference Integration 52 2.5 A Classification of Referendums 56 Legislative Majority Referendum 58 Presidential Referendum 59 Legislative Minority Referendum 60 Citizen-Initiated Referendum 61 Mandatory Referendum 62 Bibliography 66 Chapter 3: Referendums and Institutional Theory 71 3.1 Introduction 71 3.2 Classical Institutionalism 72 3.3 Historical Institutionalism 76 3.4 Sociological Institutionalism 79 3.5 Rational Choice Institutionalism 83 3.6 Defining Referendum Practice 87 3.7 Six Factors to Explain Referendum Practice 88 Type of Democracy 88 Veto Players 89 Past Referendum Experience 90 Public Demands 91 Political Values 92 Strategic Interests 93 Bibliography 95 Chapter 4: Referendum Provisions and Use in 28 Countries 102 4.1 Introduction 102 4.2 Referendum Institutionalization in 28 European Countries 103 4.3 Nature of Referendum Provisions in 28 European Countries 105 Legislative Majority Referendums 106 Presidential Referendums 107 Legislative Minority Referendums 108 Citizen-Initiated Referendums 109 Mandatory Referendums 110 4.4 Use of Referendums in the EU 113 4.5 Cross-Country Variations in Referendum Use 118 The EU17 118 The CEECs 121 4.6 Referendums and Democratic Traditions 122 Bibliography 125 Chapter 5: Referendum Practice in France 126 5.1 Introduction 126 5.2 Referendum Provisions in the French Constitution 127 5.3 Referendum Use in France 128 5.4 French Referendum Practice, Majoritarianism and Semi-Presidentialism 129 5.5 The Number of Veto Players in Triggering French Referendums 131 5.6 France’s Past Referendum Experience 133 5.7 French Public Opinion and Referendums 134 5.8 Values Attached to Referendums in French Political Debates 138 5.9 The Strategic Motives Driving French Referendums 140 Policy-Seeking 141 Domestic Empowerment 143 EU-Empowerment 146 Conflict-Mediation 146 Depoliticization 147 5.10 The Future of French Referendums? 148 Bibliography 154 Chapter 6: Referendum Practice in Denmark 157 6.1 Introduction 157 6.2 Referendum Provisions in the Danish Constitution 158 6.3 Referendum Use in Denmark 160 6.4 Referendums and Danish Consensus Democracy 160 6.5 The Number of Veto Players in Triggering Danish Referendums 162 6.6 Denmark’s Past Referendum Experience 163 6.7 Danish Public Opinion and Referendums 164 6.8 Values Attached to Referendums in Danish Political Debates 169 6.9 The Strategic Motives Driving Danish Referendums 172 Policy-Seeking 172 Depoliticization 174 Conflict-Mediation 176 EU-Bargaining 177 Domestic and EU-Empowerment 177 6.10 The Future of Danish Referendums? 179 Bibliography 183 Chapter 7: Referendum Practice in the United Kingdom 186 7.1 Introduction 186 7.2 Referendum Provisions in the UK 187 7.3 Use of UK-Wide Referendums 188 7.4 British Referendum Practice and Majoritarianism 189 7.5 The Number of Veto Players in Triggering UK-Wide Referendums 190 7.6 Britain’s Past Referendum Experience 192 7.7 British Public Opinion and Referendums 193 7.8 Values Attached to Referendums in British Political Debates 197 7.9 The Strategic Motives Driving British Referendums 200 Conflict-Mediation 200 Depoliticization 204 EU-Bargaining 205 Domestic Empowerment 206 7.10 The Future of British Referendums? 207 Bibliography 213 Chapter 8: Referendum Practice in Sweden 216 8.1 Introduction 216 8.2 Referendum Provisions in the Swedish Constitution 217 8.3 Referendum Use in Sweden 217 8.4 Referendums and Swedish Consensus Decision-Making 218 8.5 The Number of Veto Players in Triggering Swedish Referendums 219 8.6 Sweden’s Past Referendum Experience 220 8.7 Swedish Public Opinion and Referendums 221 8.8 Values Attached to Referendums in Swedish Political Debates 225 8.9 The Strategic Motives Driving Swedish Referendums 229 Policy-Seeking 229 Conflict-Mediation 230 Depoliticization 232 EU-Bargaining 233 8.10 The Future of Swedish Referendums? 234 Bibliography 238 Chapter 9: Referendum Practice in the Netherlands 241 9.1 Introduction 241 9.2 Dutch Referendum Legislation 242 9.3 Referendum Use in the Netherlands 244 9.4 Referendums and Dutch Consensus Democracy 246 9.5 The Number of Veto Players in Triggering Dutch Referendums 247 9.6 The Netherlands’ Past Referendum Experience 248 9.7 Dutch Public Opinion and Referendums 251 9.8 Values Attached to Referendums in Dutch Political Debates 256 9.9 Strategic Motives Driving Dutch Referendums 260 Domestic Empowerment 262 Conflict-Mediation 264 9.10 The Future of Dutch Referendums? 265 Bibliography 270 Chapter 10: Conclusions: The Drivers of Referendum Use in Europe 272 10.1 Introduction 272 10.2 The Fallacy of a Direct Democracy Shift 273 10.3 The Motives Underlying Referendums 276 Referendums as Defence: Deflating Controversy over ‘Europe’ 278 Rising Salience as the Outcome of a Populist Appeal to Referendums 278 Values Create a Referendum-Favourable Discourse, but Hardly Drive Actual Referendums 279 10.4 Explaining Cross-Country Variations 280 Different Democratic Traditions, Different Referendum Practices 281 A High Number of Veto Players Either Constrains or Enables the Use of Referendums 283 Referendum Precedents Matter, but Are No Guarantee 284 Despite the Appeal to ‘the People’, We Do Not Know If (and Why) People Want Referendums 286 10.5 Implications and Perspectives for Future Research 287 The People or the Prince? 287 Structure Versus Agency? 288 Directions for Future Research 288 Bibliography 290 Appendices 291 Appendix 1 Referendum Provisions in the EU281 292 Appendix 2 Democratic Use of National Referendums in the EU28 (1950–2017)1 304 Bibliography 314 Index 335 Front Matter ....Pages i-xvii Introduction: The Politics of Referendum Use in Europe (Saskia Hollander)....Pages 1-26 Referendums and Democratic Theory (Saskia Hollander)....Pages 27-56 Referendums and Institutional Theory (Saskia Hollander)....Pages 57-87 Referendum Provisions and Use in 28 Countries (Saskia Hollander)....Pages 89-112 Referendum Practice in France (Saskia Hollander)....Pages 113-143 Referendum Practice in Denmark (Saskia Hollander)....Pages 145-173 Referendum Practice in the United Kingdom (Saskia Hollander)....Pages 175-204 Referendum Practice in Sweden (Saskia Hollander)....Pages 205-229 Referendum Practice in the Netherlands (Saskia Hollander)....Pages 231-261 Conclusions: The Drivers of Referendum Use in Europe (Saskia Hollander)....Pages 263-281 Back Matter ....Pages 283-345