Overview
- Provides a cross-country comparison of referendum provisions and their frequency in 28 European countries
- Uniquely links referendum practices to democratic theory
- Argues that referendums are instruments for political elites rather than the people
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Keywords
- referendums
- European politics
- referendum drivers
- referendum classification
- aggregative decision-making
- integrative decision-making
- classical institutionalism
- sociological institutionalism
- mandatory referendums
- presidential referendums
- legislative majority referendums
- legislative minority referendums
- citizen-initiated referendums
- referendums in France
- referendums in Denmark
- referendums in the UK
- referendums in Sweden
- referendums in the Netherlands
- populism
- referendum practice
Table of contents (10 chapters)
Reviews
“Hollander’s wonderful book is a feat of topical and high-quality comparative research. Looking at countries such as the UK, France, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands, she convincingly shows that European referendums are often elite-driven and better understood as a succession of single-events rather than an ever-growing expression of public power.” (Frank Hendriks, author of Vital Democracy: A Theory of Democracy in Action, and Professor of Comparative Governance at Tilburg University, The Netherlands)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
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).
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Politics of Referendum Use in European Democracies
Authors: Saskia Hollander
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04197-7
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Political Science and International Studies, Political Science and International Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-04196-0Published: 12 April 2019
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-04197-7Published: 02 April 2019
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XVII, 345
Number of Illustrations: 30 b/w illustrations
Topics: Democracy, European Politics, Electoral Politics, Comparative Politics