Referendums and Representative Democracy

Referendums and Representative Democracy PDF Author: Maija Setälä
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135215057
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
This volume analyses how the use of referendums affects the central functions and characteristics of representative democracy. It provides a balanced account of the interaction between referendums and representative institutions and actors, seeking to evaluate whether referendums supplement or undermine representative democracy. Considering both normative and empirical questions, the volume also examines the particular circumstances under which referendums strengthen or weaken representative democracy. Providing a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches used in the study of referendums, this book is divided into three sections: Referendums and the Models of Democracy, The Demand of Referendums: Party Ideologies and Strategies, and Referendum Campaigns and Voter Behaviour. It features case studies on Ireland, Israel, Canada, California, Italy, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, the Nordic Countries, the Netherlands, Spain and the EU Constitutional Treaty. In addition to system-level evaluations of referendums, studies on the ideological attitudes of political actors and strategic use of referendums, the volume also provides analyses of referendum campaigns and voters’ choices in referendums. Covering referendums on European integration, the volume also demonstrates how supra-national governance gives rise to the demand of referendums. This volume will be of interest to students and scholars of political science, political theory, comparative politics, and European studies.

Referendums and Representative Democracy

Referendums and Representative Democracy PDF Author: Maija Setälä
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135215057
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
This volume analyses how the use of referendums affects the central functions and characteristics of representative democracy. It provides a balanced account of the interaction between referendums and representative institutions and actors, seeking to evaluate whether referendums supplement or undermine representative democracy. Considering both normative and empirical questions, the volume also examines the particular circumstances under which referendums strengthen or weaken representative democracy. Providing a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches used in the study of referendums, this book is divided into three sections: Referendums and the Models of Democracy, The Demand of Referendums: Party Ideologies and Strategies, and Referendum Campaigns and Voter Behaviour. It features case studies on Ireland, Israel, Canada, California, Italy, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, the Nordic Countries, the Netherlands, Spain and the EU Constitutional Treaty. In addition to system-level evaluations of referendums, studies on the ideological attitudes of political actors and strategic use of referendums, the volume also provides analyses of referendum campaigns and voters’ choices in referendums. Covering referendums on European integration, the volume also demonstrates how supra-national governance gives rise to the demand of referendums. This volume will be of interest to students and scholars of political science, political theory, comparative politics, and European studies.

Referendum Democracy

Referendum Democracy PDF Author: M. Mendelsohn
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1403900965
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
As the referendum becomes a more regular component of decision making, it leaves few, if any, institutions, processes and values of democracy untouched. Political actors of all kinds - including political parties and interest groups - seek to use the referendum device to further their own objectives. The end result is a different kind of democracy than existed before. This book lays out the comparative research agenda on the impact of referendums on the practice of liberal democracy.

Referendum and National Decision-making

Referendum and National Decision-making PDF Author: Markku Suksi
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Comparative government
Languages : en
Pages : 1178

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Book Description


Stealth Democracy

Stealth Democracy PDF Author: John R. Hibbing
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521009867
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
Americans often complain about the operation of their government, but scholars have never developed a complete picture of people's preferred type of government. In this provocative and timely book, Hibbing and Theiss-Morse, employing an original national survey and focus groups, report the governmental procedures Americans desire. Contrary to the prevailing view that people want greater involvement in politics, most citizens do not care about most policies and therefore are content to turn over decision-making authority to someone else. People's wish for the political system is that decision makers be empathetic and, especially, non-self-interested, not that they be responsive and accountable to the people's largely nonexistent policy preferences or, even worse, that the people be obligated to participate directly in decision making. Hibbing and Theiss-Morse conclude by cautioning communitarians, direct democrats, social capitalists, deliberation theorists, and all those who think that greater citizen involvement is the solution to society's problems.

The Referendum Experience in Europe

The Referendum Experience in Europe PDF Author: Pier Vincenzo Uleri
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1349247960
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
The referendum has become established as part of the decision-making process in many European countries. Experts from each country survey the historical experience and current debates in Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia and eastern Europe, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The impact of the referendum experience upon European politics is assessed, and the merits of the use of the referendum are evaluated, with a discussion on the implications for political parties, party systems, and representative government.

Responsible Parties

Responsible Parties PDF Author: Frances Rosenbluth
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300241054
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 335

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Book Description
How popular democracy has paradoxically eroded trust in political systems worldwide, and how to restore confidence in democratic politics In recent decades, democracies across the world have adopted measures to increase popular involvement in political decisions. Parties have turned to primaries and local caucuses to select candidates; ballot initiatives and referenda allow citizens to enact laws directly; many places now use proportional representation, encouraging smaller, more specific parties rather than two dominant ones.Yet voters keep getting angrier.There is a steady erosion of trust in politicians, parties, and democratic institutions, culminating most recently in major populist victories in the United States, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere. Frances Rosenbluth and Ian Shapiro argue that devolving power to the grass roots is part of the problem. Efforts to decentralize political decision-making have made governments and especially political parties less effective and less able to address constituents’ long-term interests. They argue that to restore confidence in governance, we must restructure our political systems to restore power to the core institution of representative democracy: the political party.

Citizenship and Contemporary Direct Democracy

Citizenship and Contemporary Direct Democracy PDF Author: David Altman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108496636
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 283

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

Critical Citizens

Critical Citizens PDF Author: Pippa Norris
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191522341
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
Critical Citizens: Global Support for Democratic Government analyses a series of interrelated questions. The first two are diagnostic: how far are there legitimate grounds for concern about public support for democracy world-wide? Are trends towards growing cynicism evident in the United States evident in many established and newer democracies? The second concern is analytical: what are the main political, economic, and cultural factors driving the dynamics of support for democratic government? The final questions are prescriptive: what are the consequences of this analysis and what are the implications for strengthening democratic governance? This book has brought together a distinguished group of international scholars who develop a global analysis of these issues that looks at trends in establishes and newer democracies as we approach the end of the twentieth century. It also presents the first results of the 1995-7 World Values Study as well as drawing on an extensive range of comparative empirical evidence. Challenging the conventional wisdom, this original and stimulating book concludes that accounts of a democratic `crisis' are greatly exaggerated. By the mid-1990s most citizens world-wide shared widespread aspirations to the ideals and principles of democratic government. At the same time there remains a marked gap between evaluations of the ideal and the practice of democracy. The public in many newer democracies in Central and Eastern Europe and in Latin America proved deeply critical of the performance of their governing regimes. And in many established democracies the 1980s saw a decline in public confidence in the core institutions of representative democracy including parliaments, the legal system, and political parties. The book considers the causes and consequences of the development of critical citizens. It will prove invaluable for those interested in comparative politics, public opinion, and the dynamics of the democratization process. ADVANCE PRAISE `The great democratic paradox of the 1990s is that it has simultaneously been the decade of democratization and the decade of growing distrust of democratic institutions. This volume admirably dissects the complex and multi-dimensional background of these conflicting trends, and presents a judicious evaluation of the grounds of optimism and pessimism—in which, fortunately, the former prevails.' AREND LIJPHART, University of California San Diego `Critical Citizens is the most comprehensive collection of comparative work on confidence in government and sources of public support for democracy. I strongly recommend it.' SEYMOUR MARTIN LIPSET, George mason University `Pippa Norris and her colleagues examine claims and counter-claims about the erosion of public confidence in democracy, describe the depth and dynamics of trust in government, and lay out a broad and differentiated approach to the phenomenon. They sort out the rather high degree of support for democracy from widespread uneasiness with the workings of instituions and with the behaviour of politicians. Their book is must reading for survey researchers and comparative students of democracy alike.' SIDNEY TARROW, Cornell University `This is the most impressive comparative study of how citizens in contemporay democracies relate to their governments. In an age of expanding democratic institutions around the globe, the authors of Critical Citizens capture the reader's interest and provide a masterful update on one of the critical issues of our time.' CHRISTOPHER J. ANDERSON, Binghamton University (SUNY) `It is the Civic Culture study 40 years later . . .Critical Citizens is a landmark comparative study of trends in attitudes toward nation, government regime, political institutions, and leaders, in some forty regionally well-distributed countries, bringing together the resaerch of a cross-national team of social scientists, led by Pippa Norris of the Harvard Kennedy School. It is full of theoretically interesting insights, as well as findings that have an important bearing on public policy.' GABRIEL ALMOND, Stanford

American Government 3e

American Government 3e PDF Author: Glen Krutz
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781738998470
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Black & white print. American Government 3e aligns with the topics and objectives of many government courses. Faculty involved in the project have endeavored to make government workings, issues, debates, and impacts meaningful and memorable to students while maintaining the conceptual coverage and rigor inherent in the subject. With this objective in mind, the content of this textbook has been developed and arranged to provide a logical progression from the fundamental principles of institutional design at the founding, to avenues of political participation, to thorough coverage of the political structures that constitute American government. The book builds upon what students have already learned and emphasizes connections between topics as well as between theory and applications. The goal of each section is to enable students not just to recognize concepts, but to work with them in ways that will be useful in later courses, future careers, and as engaged citizens. In order to help students understand the ways that government, society, and individuals interconnect, the revision includes more examples and details regarding the lived experiences of diverse groups and communities within the United States. The authors and reviewers sought to strike a balance between confronting the negative and harmful elements of American government, history, and current events, while demonstrating progress in overcoming them. In doing so, the approach seeks to provide instructors with ample opportunities to open discussions, extend and update concepts, and drive deeper engagement.

Bringing in the People

Bringing in the People PDF Author: Markku Suksi
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004633677
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
The referendum is not a monolithic method of national decision making. There are a multitude of referendum forms which exist under varying constitutional conditions and operate in different ways. A global comparison shows that more than half the constitutions of the world provide for the referendum at a national level, but referendums are also carried out without explicit constitutional support. Two main forms of referendum can be observed, the mandatory constitutional referendum and the policy vote. This book argues that the referendum does not undermine representative decision making, but supplements it in various ways: the referendum is not diametrically opposed to representative government, and when properly designed and used, the institution of the referendum can enhance the legitimacy of a constitutional and political system. This book is the first comprehensive constitutional and comparative analysis of the referendum. It offers illuminating and intriguing reading for all those interested in national decision making.