Author
Abstract
type="main"> Are the voters capable of making complex decisions and informed choices in referendums? Do referendums and other forms of direct democracy provide mechanisms for citizen deliberation? Why do dictators like Hitler and Pinochet use referendums? Are referendum campaigns ultimately decided by who has got the deepest pockets and the best campaign advisors? These are the questions discussed and investigated in the books under review. The conclusion that emerges is that voters are able to make informed choices which broadly reflect their political preferences and they are generally not swayed by spin and campaigns. In the light of these findings, there is reason to be cautiously optimistic as regards the deliberative potential of referendums. Altman , D. ( 2011 ) Direct Democracy Worldwide . Cambridge : Cambridge University Press . Bernhard , L. ( 2012 ) Campaign Strategy in Direct Democracy . Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan . Hobolt , S. B. ( 2009 ) Europe in Question: Referendums on European Integration . Oxford : Oxford University Press . Schiller , T. (ed.) ( 2011 ) Local Direct Democracy in Europe . Wiesbaden : VS Verlag . Setälä , M. and Schiller , T. (eds) ( 2012 ) Citizens' Initiatives in Europe: Procedures and Consequences of Agenda-Setting by Citizens . Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan . Tierney , S. ( 2012 ) Constitutional Referendums: The Theory and Practice of Republican Deliberation . Oxford : Oxford University Press . Wyn Jones , R. and Scully , R. ( 2012 ) Wales Says Yes: Devolution and the 2011 Welsh Referendum . Cardiff : University of Wales Press .
Suggested Citation
Matt Qvortrup, 2015.
"Power to the People! But How? The Different Uses of Referendums Around the World,"
Political Studies Review, Political Studies Association, vol. 13(1), pages 37-45, February.
Handle:
RePEc:bla:pstrev:v:13:y:2015:i:1:p:37-45
Download full text from publisher
As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.
Corrections
All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:pstrev:v:13:y:2015:i:1:p:37-45. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.
If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.
We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .
If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1478-9299 .
Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through
the various RePEc services.