Title: Referendums and the European Union: A Comparative Inquiry (Chapter 1)
Abstract: Why have referendums on European integration proliferated since the 1970s? How are referendums accommodated within member states’ constitutional orders, and with what impact on the European integration process? What is the likely institutional impact of referendums on the future of the European integration process? These are among some of the fundamental questions addressed in this book from an interdisciplinary perspective. The central thesis is that the EU is faced with a “direct democratic dilemma”, which is compounded by the EU’s rigid constitutional structure and a growing politicisation of the referendum device on matters related to European integration. Referendums and the European Union discusses how this dilemma has emerged to impact on the course of integration, and how it can be addressed.
Chapter 1: Direct democracy, referendums, and European integration: a conceptual framework
This chapter has three aims: first, to provide a synoptic review of the academic literature; second, to situate the scope of the book and its approach within the broader literature; and, third, to offer an organising framework for structuring the empirical analysis in the chapters that follow. In addressing the first and second aims, we intend to flag the most salient controversies in the academic debates. Since this book is about referendums related to European integration a first, albeit brief, port of call will be the broader academic literature on direct democracy and the latter’s treatment of the referendum in particular. This literature has had an obvious influence on how scholars have analysed referendums on European integration. In providing a synoptic review of the key questions shaping the debates on the referendum and its impact on European integration our aim is to also situate the approach adopted in this book within the broader scholarly literature and to distinguish our comparative, interdisciplinary approach from others in the field. We address our third aim in the last section of this chapter by offering a typology of referendums on European integration held thus far.
Publication Year: 2014
Publication Date: 2014-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
Access and Citation
AI Researcher Chatbot
Get quick answers to your questions about the article from our AI researcher chatbot