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Referendums and Democratic Theory

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The Palgrave Handbook of European Referendums

Abstract

Are justifications for democracy more likely to be delivered with referendums or without them? Are referendums more likely to satisfy some democratic standards than others? Why do people disagree so much about the desirability of referendums? This chapter discusses what referendums may mean for aggregative, deliberative and epistemic aspects of democracy, as well as concerns that referendums risk manipulation, political irresponsibility and majority domination. Yet, the chapter also doubts that any democratic system can manage without some provision for referendums. Securing the benefits of referendums without too many of their shortcomings then requires embedding them in the very practices of democratic constitutionalism and representative democracy that are often understood as opposites to referendums.

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  1. ARENA‚ The Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Christopher Lord

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  1. Christopher Lord
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Correspondence to Christopher Lord .

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  1. Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Julie Smith

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Lord, C. (2021). Referendums and Democratic Theory. In: Smith, J. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of European Referendums . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55803-1_2

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