Overview
- Theoretically informed and empirically rigorous, this volume provides fascinating insights into referendums across Europe
- Offers the most up-to-date coverage of polls in the EU and beyond
- Brings together an outstanding range of leading scholars in the field of referendum politics
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About this book
This handbook provides an empirically rich analysis of referendums in Europe from the end of the Second World War to the present. It addresses a range of perennial theoretical and legal questions that face policy-makers when they offer citizens the chance to take or influence decisions by referendum, not least whether to accept the ‘will of the people’. Taking a multi-disciplinary approach, drawing on historical, philosophical and political science perspectives, the book includes a contextual section on the history of referendums, the theoretical questions underpinning their use, and on constitutional and legal questions about the use of referendums. The empirical sections are divided into those referendums that focus on domestic issues, such as constitutional matters or questions of social policy, and those related to the European Union, including membership referendums and treaty ratification.
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Keywords
- Public policymaking
- Legal framework
- Campaign messages
- Campaigns
- Political parties
- Voting behaviour
- Media
- Funding
- Representative democracy
- Deliberative democracy
- Constitution
- International treaties
- Social policy
- Domestic politics
- 2016 UK referendum
- Good Friday Agreement
- Electoral Reform 2011
- Scottish Independence 2014
- Catalan independence 2014 and 2017
- Sovereignty
Table of contents (33 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Referendums in Theory and in Practice
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Front Matter
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Domestic Referendums
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Front Matter
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Editors and Affiliations
About the editor
Julie Smith is Reader in European Politics in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge, UK, and a Fellow in Politics at Robinson College. As Baroness Smith of Newnham, she sits on the Liberal Democrat benches in the House of Lords, where she led for the Liberal Democrats on the European Referendum Bill in 2015 and has served on the International Relations and Defence Committee since 2016. She was Head of the European Programme at Chatham House from 1999 to 2003.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Palgrave Handbook of European Referendums
Editors: Julie Smith
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55803-1
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) 2021
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-55802-4Published: 03 March 2021
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-55805-5Published: 04 March 2022
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-55803-1Published: 02 March 2021
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XXII, 730
Number of Illustrations: 21 b/w illustrations, 6 illustrations in colour
Topics: Public Policy, European Politics, Comparative Politics, Governance and Government, Legislative and Executive Politics, Democracy