The Palgrave Handbook of European Referendums

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxii

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Julie Smith

   Pages 1-25

3. Referendums in Theory and in Practice

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 27-27

      PDF

   2. Referendums and Democratic Theory

      • Christopher Lord

      Pages 29-48

   3. History

      • Andrew Glencross

      Pages 49-66

   4. The Rules of Referendums

      • Alan Renwick, Jess Sargeant

      Pages 67-90

   5. Referendums and Parliaments

      • Philip Norton

      Pages 91-108

   6. The Shifting Will of the People: The Case of EU Referendums

      • Ece Özlem Atikcan

      Pages 109-135

   7. Two Hundred Years of Direct Democracy: The Referendum in Europe 1793–2018

      • Matt Qvortrup

      Pages 137-161

4. Domestic Referendums

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 163-163

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   2. The King Versus the People: Lessons from a Belgian Referendum

      • Jan Wouters, Alex Andrione-Moylan

      Pages 165-178

   3. The Referendum Experience in France

      • Laurence Morel

      Pages 179-202

   4. The Referendum Experience in Switzerland

      • Uwe Serdült

      Pages 203-224

   5. The Scottish and Welsh Devolution Referendums of 1979 and 1997

      • Jörg Mathias

      Pages 225-245

   6. The 1998 Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement Referendums in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland

      • Katy Hayward

      Pages 247-265

   7. The United Kingdom Parliamentary Voting System Referendum of 2011

      • Andrew Blick

      Pages 267-285

   8. The Scottish Independence Referendum of 2014

      • John Curtice

      Pages 287-306

   9. The 2017 Catalan Referendum in Comparative Perspective

      • Matt Qvortrup

      Pages 307-324

   10. The Irish Referendums on Marriage Equality and Abortion

       • Theresa Reidy, Jane Suiter, Johan A. Elkink, David Farrell

       Pages 325-342

   11. Referenda and Constitutional Change in Italy—The Failed Change

       • P. V. Uleri

       Pages 343-384

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.   

• 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

• Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

  Julie Smith

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.