Transcript Referendums By Jonathan Sankey • Referendums are a “device of direct democracy” or in other words they are one of its mechanisms.

Referendums
By Jonathan Sankey
• Referendums are a “device of direct democracy” or in other words
they are one of its mechanisms. However, they can and have been
used widely within representative democracies. In each case of the
use of referenda, states have used “different rules and fitted them
into the political system in different ways.”
• The referendum in terms of electoral systems is a relatively rare
form.
• - only a few countries use it as a long established and frequently
used device.
• Switzerland, the USA and Australia in that order use them most
frequently.
Athenian version of Direct Democracy
The Assembly of the Demos:
-all male citizens could come here to listen, discuss and vote on
decrees that affected every aspect of Athenian life.
The Council of 500.
-this represented the full time government of Athens.
-it consisted of 500 citizens, 50 from each of the ten tribes. Serving on
a 1 year term.
-the council had some independent legislative power
-its main role however was preparing the agenda and drafting the
legislation for the assembly to debate and vote on.
-a preliminary decree would be passed and this would go forward to
be voted on by the Assembly of the Demos.
-interestingly Athens lacked a mechanism known as the initiative
Other countries use Referenda on a more sporadic basis.
-only on referendum has ever been put to the entire UK
electorate: 1975 vote on whether not to stay in the
EEC.
In the UK referendums are not binding.
-even when a referendum bill is passed by Parliament,
Parliamentary sovereignty and is right to reverse its
own bulls means that referenda can never be binding
here.
The first used in this country was the 1973 vote on the
status of Northern Ireland.
-8 have been held since but they have been on regional
issues devolution to Wales and Scotland and the setting
up of the London Assembly.
Ireland uses Referendums much more.
-it has a codified constitution i.e. there is a singular document which
contains its constitution rather than a plethora of legal and statutory
bills that make up the British system. which means it has a provision
made for the use of referendums.
-as well as the NI peace agreement it has held referendums on:
-many EU related issues
-abortion and divorce
-other constitutional issues
Although the use of referendums has risen sharply in the last century
across the democratic world, most representative democracies use
them relatively seldomly. The reasons for this are that politicians are
wary of employing their use as they might have the effect of eroding
representative democracy and their own role as representatives.
Australia
-Australians have held 44 national referendums since
the first one in 1906 and they have become
accepted as the standard means by which their
constitution can be amended.
-in addition 3 referendums on non constitutional
matters which included the national song and
conscription.
-the individual states have held many referendums as
well as the national Government
The process in Australia needs the consent of both houses of
Parliament by a majority before it can be put to a
referendum across the country.
-the proposal must receive an absolute majority, nationally,
and,
-a majority in all 4 of the 6 states.
The reason for this system according to Don Aitkin is that the
framers of the constitution wanted
“one that would last” but they wanted “hurdles that would trip
the badly thought out or the ephemeral but would still
allow useful changes.”
He goes on to say that.
“it is unlikely that they intended the test to be as difficult as it
has proved to be.”
Of the first 80 proposals for referendums, only
36% got Parliamentary approval of which 8
were approved by the people. That's just a
10% success rate for proposals.
This is probably due to three main factors:
The Height of The Hurdles
-the nature of the 6 State system
-the states were originally colonies and like in the
USA ceded power to the Federal Government /
Commonwealth
-this means that nearly all referendums on
constitutional matters are diminutive of State
power and as such are resisted by state politicians.
-this makes the severity of the requisite 4/6 majority
in the states all the more difficult to surpass. There
have been examples of referenda where a national
majority has been gained but where only 3/6 states
had majorities.
Australians take part in, on average, 1 election per
year
-A referendum offers a difficult constitutional
question which need an unqualified yes or no.
-Aitkin suggests that because the Constitution is a
legal rather than a political document, it is
extremely difficult for the electorate to make a
well educated decision, -sometimes the
referendum issue can be over one word or a
sentence in a document making the consequences
almost unknowable
-as a result, puzzled by the wording and battered
from both sides by the politicians, they often just
vote no.
Partisan Politics - Aitkin suggests that
although
procedural difficulties
are
important, part politics is often the greater
hurdle.
-the party system is old and extremely stable
-party discipline is very string, coalitions are
unknown and politicians never cross the
floor of the houses
-because of the frequency of elections, parties
are geared towards election winning.
There needs to be an agreement between the
parties in order to secure a referendum on a
proposal. That is obviously going to be
difficult in this partisan environment.
-indeed agreement between federal parties has
usually been short-lived
-parties have often opposed extension of
powers which they initially proposed when,
out of office, their opponents proposed
them.
The frequency of elections means that the
short term and changing nature of party
welfare makes an opposition reluctant to
agree with anything proposed by the
Government.
-the parties are also suspicious of how their
opponents would use any extensions of their
powers when in office.
The Electorate
Australians generally have high levels of partisanship with
low levels of political interest.
-the party position on an issue tends to determine that of the
citizen
-in contrast to the USA, the Australian constitution is not a
well known document, nor is it taught in schools.
Referendum campaigns are short affairs, due to restraints on
the time between proposal and vote
-each citizen is provided, by law, with statements written on
behalf of the supporters and opponents.
-these serve are the basis of campaigns
-exaggeration and distortion of the issues are common place
and often the intellectual level of debates on the issues at
stake are “appalling”
Aitkin says that because often opponents
reduce the issue to one of either
-more or less powers to politicians or to
-centralism vs. federalism
people often make up their minds on the basis
of intuition and guesswork.
The USA and the Initiative.
The Initiative - this essentially where a private member of the public
initiated the process of a referendum, bringing their own policy
ideas to the table.
-this method is used in varying amounts across the USA and in
Switzerland.
The Recall - this is where a piece of legislation can be reversed if a
sufficient number of people believe it to be wrong.
-normally a referendum can be called if enough people petition the
state or national government.
The USA is one of the very few democracies
that has never had a national referendum.
Nonetheless, it is second only to
Switzerland as the country that has the most
experience of direct democracy.
-the States themselves are the bodies that
employ direct democracy. This is rooted in
tradition as many of them used it to ratify
and approve their state constitutions in their
early days
In the USA, the use of Initiatives has exploded and
citizens have remained supportive of the process:
- recent surveys reveal that familiarity with direct
democracy does not breed contempt for its
expanded use.
- 78% of people in Washington state said that the use
of initiatives were a good thing as did 69% of
Californians.
- 57% of people support having initiatives at the
national level.
The populist movement in the USA has been the main
supporter of the expanded use of initiatives.Their outlook
consists of three main tenets:
1) a concern for individual self interest and the common
persons aspiration for political equality and social and
economic opportunity.
2) an assumption that the common people are trustworthy and
competent, and
3) a mistrust of a concentration of power in the hands of
elites.
It was thought that the increased use of initiatives would fix
the problems of representative government by diminishing
the influence that special interests and party machines had
over legislatures.
Of 1000 Californians asked why they support direct democracy
445 said it
‘Gives people a voice’
113
‘Allows direct participation’
107
‘Allows for policy change’
71
‘Forces issues onto the agenda’
41
‘Makes voters aware of issues
19
‘Gets attention of politicians’
In the USA, referendums are seen as a process whereby ordinary
citizens can to some degree control law making directly by their
own votes rather than through the usual process of representative
democracy.
-it is therefore a supplement to representative democracy.
The initiative and referendum are different
things in the USA.
-Referendums are used to approve legislation
or constitution changes led by politicians.
-Initiatives allow people or groups to draft
their own, and have it voted on in a
referendum.
There are four main types of direct democracy used in the States.
Constitutional Referendum -Delaware is the only State out of 50 not to
use this.
Statutory Referendum - 24 states use this system where a referendum is
held on normal legislation and provided a set number of people
petition for one. This is similar to the recall.
Statutory Initiative - used in 22 states where a petition places a statute on
the ballot without any action by the State Legislature.
-another 7 use a system where petition puts the bill in front of the
legislature for action within a standard time limit
-if it rejects the measure or takes to long then the statute is placed on the
voting card at the next election.
The Constitutional Initiative - is used in very few states but allows for
petition to be used to start constitutional change.
California
California has a very weak party system and the formal
political structure is divided and diffuse. Voters
increasingly call themselves independents and even
candidates that are nominated by parties tend to
develop a personal campaign and to some extent
distance themselves from their party.
Complementing and contributing to this is the widespread
use of direct democracy, in particular, the initiative.
California stands alone of the large industrial and
urban States in offering the constitutional amendment
initiative and direct statutory initiative without
recourse to the legislature or the governor.
For example, in 2005 Governor Arnie placed an
initiative on the legislative election ballot that
control over constituency boundaries be place in
the hands of retired State Judges in order to
combat gerrymandering a problem that is rife in
California. This was defeated along with every
other initiative placed on the ballot that year.
Laws, amendments and regulations that find
themselves on to the initiative range from the
trivial to the very important. Like the regulation of
chiropractors to that of nuclear power plants and a
law on obscenity to tax regulations and the death
penalty. It seams to cover any aspect of the
political.
Direct Democracy in Switzerland
Between 1848 and 1993 Switzerland held 414
referendums on nearly every aspect of
political life.
Between 6 and 12 referendums per year.
The 1848 constitution set in place obligatory
referendums for all constitutional
amendments and enabled citizens to petition
for a total rewriting of the document.
• There are four types of Referendum at the federal
level:
• the constitutional referendum - government
proposed amendments are submitted to a popular
vote
• the constitutional initiative - publicly proposed
votes on amendments
• the optional or facultative referendum on
legislation - citizens can reject legislation
• the optional treaty referendum - international
agreements need popular ratification
Federal Assembly - Legislature
Switzerland's Bicameral Parliament,
the Council of States - 46 constituency seats
from the Cantons
the National Council - members are elected by
popular vote on a basis of proportional
representation to serve four-year terms)
Problems
The whole process can take a very long time,
sometimes more than 9 months.
As a result there are two things the
government can do to speed up the process.
- they can initiate urgent legislation unconstitutional decrees
Kobach does describe three major problems
with the system however
- delay as a means of destroying a bill
- citizens have no way of making straight
forward bills
- “purchased democracy” as with any kind of
electoral campaign, resources play a major
factor in determining outcomes.
Turnout and Referendums
Evidence shows that voter participation can vary much
more widely in referendums than it does in elections.
- in recent years the average turnout in many Swiss
referendums has tended to be well below 50 %.
- in US state referendums turnout is notoriously low and
may be subject to even more extreme fluctuations.
These fluctuations occur because occasionally there will
arise an issue of much greater importance.
- for example, referendum turnout in Ireland usually
hangs around the 50-60% turnout level whereas the
European entry vote had a turnout of 71%.
• Butler and Ramney (1994) found that turnout over
a large number of referendum cases in various
nations averaged 15% lower than turnout for
general elections in the same countries.
• Cronin (1989) found a clear drop off from the
number of people who voted for a candidate and
those that voted in an initiative when they were
place on the same ballot in the USA.
• It is clear that if the vote is of sufficient
importance to the electorate then they will turnout
in greater numbers.
Advantages
- it increases the influence that the citizenry
have over their own lives and
- some argue that it makes them “betterinformed
and
more
politically
sophisticated”
- it also removes the need for “self serving
politicians” and legitimises any laws
passed.
Disadvantages
- Critics say that direct forms of democracy are too unwieldy
in large populations and
- They enable officials to pass the buck and therefore
- They de-legitimate their roles as the representatives of the
people who are charged with making decisions for us.
- some people believe that the majority of members of the
general public are not sufficiently wise to be making
constant decisions, instead, this should be the role of
elected officials who are.
- the public are also extremely susceptible to campaigns
which means that if someone has the money, especially in
the case if the initiative, they may be able to pass
legislation that they want which cant be good for
democracy.