Referendums Around the World: With a Foreword by Sir David Butler

Description

This book provides a comprehensive summary and analysis of all the nationwide referendums since 1793. Referendums are ubiquitous and they are increasingly becoming vehicles for political change – or sometimes vehicles of conservatism. In 2016, for example, the voters in the United Kingdom caused a major upheaval when they voted for leaving the European Union. Later in the same year, a majority of the voters in Colombia rejected a peace plan carefully negotiated by the political elites to end decades of civil war. Were these decisions prudent? Why were these issues submitted to referendums? Why did the majority of voters vote against the governments’ recommendations? Have ‘the people’ had grown tired of the old political class? Was this a new tendency? These are some of the questions addressed in this new edition, which will be compulsory reading for anyone interested in or concerned about populism and democracy. Front Matter ....Pages i-xviii Introduction: Theory, Practice and History (Matt Qvortrup)....Pages 1-18 Western Europe (Matt Qvortrup)....Pages 19-45 Switzerland (Uwe Serdült)....Pages 47-112 Russia, the Former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe (Ronald J. Hill, Stephen White)....Pages 113-145 North America and the Caribbean (Todd Donovan)....Pages 147-183 Latin America (David Altman)....Pages 185-211 Africa (Norbert Kersting)....Pages 213-235 Australasia (Matt Qvortrup, Caroline Morris, Masahiro Kobori)....Pages 237-262 Two Hundred Years of Referendums (Matt Qvortrup)....Pages 263-272 Back Matter ....Pages 273-307