The USSR Referendum and Republic Counter-Referendums

Abstract

Referendum cases in the Soviet Union in 1991 demonstrate how the referendum device played a role in elite bargaining not only between executives and legislatures but also between institutions of different federal and regional structures. These cases demonstrate how referendums provide popular legitimacy to govern outside of Soviet Communism and change the distribution of power between federal and regional structures by granting autonomy to the Soviet Republics. Mikhail Gorbachev, the former general secretary of the Communist Party and president of the Soviet Union, introduced the referendum device into the Soviet context in order to outflank political opponents, with various goals, who opposed his goal of maintaining the federal structure of the Soviet Union. This referendum served as the impetus for a slate of votes—counter-referendums—by republics seeking some degree of independence.