The Referendum Experience in Europe

273 Pages·1996·29.174 MB·English

by  Michael Gallagher, Pier Vincenzo Uleri (eds.)

THE REFERENDUM EXPERIENCE IN EUROPE
Also by Michael Gallagher
REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT IN MODERN EUROPE
(co-author)
POLITICS IN THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND (co-editor)
Also by Pier Vincenzo Uleri
DEMOCRAZIE E REFERENDUM (co-editor)
The Referendum
Experience in Europe
Edited by
Michael Gallagher
Lecturer in Political Science
Trinity College, Dublin University
and
Pier Vincenzo Uleri
Lecturer in Political Science
University of Florence
First published in Great Britain 1996 by
MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS
and London
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library.
ISBN 978-0-333-65074-3 hardcover
ISBN 978-0-333-67018-7 ISBN 978-1-349-24796-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-24796-7
First published in the United States of America 1996 by
ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC.,
Scholarly and Reference Division,
175 Fifth Avenue,
New York, N.Y. 10010
ISBN 978-0-333-67018-7
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The referendum experience in Europe I edited by Michael Gallagher and
Pier Vincenzo Uleri.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-333-67018-7
I. Referendum-Europe. I. Gallagher, Michael, 1951-
11. Uleri, Pier Vincenzo, 1950
JF497.E85R44 1996
328.2'094----{lc20 96-7689
CIP
Selection and editorial matter© Michael Gallagher and Pier Vincenzo Uleri 1996
Chapters 1-14 © Macmillan Press Ltd 1996
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1996
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of
this publication may be made without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or
transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with
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or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying
issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court
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Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this
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claims for damages.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 I
05 04 03 02 01 ()() 99 98 97 96
Contents
List of tables v1
List of figures vii
Preface vm
1 Introduction 1
Pier Vincenzo Uleri
2 Austria: the referendum as an instrument of
intemationalisation 20
Anton Pelinka and Sylvia Greiderer
3 Denmark: the referendum as minority protection 33
Palle Svensson
4 Finland: the referendum as a dormant feature 52
Markku Suksi
5 France: towards a less controversial use of the referendum? 66
Laurence Morel
6 Ireland: the referendum as a conservative device? 86
Michael Gallagher
7 Italy: referendums and initiatives from the origins to
the crisis of a democratic regime 106
Pier Vincenzo Uleri
8 The Netherlands: national debates and local experience 126
loop van Holsteyn
9 Norway: six exceptions to the rule 139
Thomas Chr. Wyller
10 Russia, the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe:
the referendum as a flexible political instrument 153
Stephen White and Ronald J. Hill
11 Sweden: the referendum as an instrument for
defusing political issues 171
OlofRuin
12 Switzerland: the referendum and initiative as a
centrepiece of the political system 185
Alexander H. Trechsel and Hanspeter Kriesi
13 The United Kingdom: constitutional pragmatism and the
adoption of the referendum 209
Denis Balsom
14 Conclusion 226
Michael Gallagher
Notes on contributors 253
Index 255
v
List of tables
2.1 Austrian referendums, 1945-95 23
2.2 Party preference and voting behaviour in Zwentendorf
nuclear power referendum, 1978 24
2.3 Voting behaviour, by party preference, in Austrian EU
referendum, 1994 28
3.1 Danish referendums, 1916-95 39
4.1 Consultative referendums in Finland, 1917-95 53
4.2 Backgrounds of Yes voters in Finnish EU referendum,
1994 58
4.3 Voting intention in September 1994, and voting in the
EU referendum in October 1994, in Finland, by party
supported 60
5.1 French referendums during the revolutionary and
Napoleonic periods 68
5.2 The founding referendums of the French Fourth
Republic 70
5.3 French referendums, 1958-95 73
6.1 Irish referendums, 1937-95 90
6.2 Correlations between "conservative" votes in Irish
referendums on abortion and divorce, 1983-95 97
6.3 Party allegiance and voting intention at "moral issue"
referendums in Ireland, 1986-95 99
6.4 Initiators and outcomes of Irish referendums 100
7.1 Topics of requests for abrogative initiatives and
referendums promoted and voted in Italy, 1970-95 107
7.2 Institutional democratic referendums in Italy, 1946-95 111
7.3 Abrogative initiatives and referendums submitted to
popular votes in Italy under Article 75 of the
constitution, 1970-95 113
8.1 The referendums in Haarlem, Leiden and Amsterdam,
1991 and 1992 133
vi
9.1 Referendums in Norway, 1905-95 140
9.2 Percentage who voted No to Norwegian membership
of the EU in 1994, by geographical region and the
population of municipalities 146
9.3 Percentage No votes in Norwegian EU referendum
1994, by gender 147
11.1 Swedish referendums, 1922-95 175
12.1 Swiss federal forms of initiatives and referendums 187
12.2 The use of direct democratic devices in Switzerland,
1848-1994 191
12.3 Votes by issue domain in Switzerland, 1848-1994, in
percentages (figures for 1980-94 in parentheses) 194
13.1 Referendum on constitutional future of Northern
Ireland, 8 March 1973 211
13.2 United Kingdom referendum on EC membership,
1975 213
13.3 Referendums on devolution proposals for Scotland and
Wales, 1 March 1979 215
14.1 Constitutional provisions for mandatory referendums
in western Europe 226
14.2 Constitutional provisions for optional decision-
promoting referendums and initiatives in western
Europe 227
14.3 Constitutional provisions for optional decision-
controlling referendums and initiatives in western
Europe 229
14.4 National referendums and initiatives in 19 west
European countries, to 31 December 1995 231
List of figures
1.1 A typology of the referendum phenomenon 12
2.1 Public opinion on Austrian membership ofEU, 1987-94 27
3.1 Political effects of Danish referendums 48
12.1 Importance of party recommendations, Switzerland 200
vii
Preface
The referendum is an important aspect of democratic government in
many European countries. In some, such as Switzerland, it is an
integral part of the political system; in several others, it is a routine
feature, occurring about as frequently as general elections; in others
again, such as the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, it is very
rare or even unknown. The merits or otherwise of using referen
dums to decide certain matters of public policy are debated in most
of the countries that use the institution, and, sometimes even more
intensely, in those that do not use it.
This is not the first comparative study to be published of the ref
erendum. In particular, David Butler and Austin Ranney's Referen
dums around the World (Macmillan, 1994), provides an invaluable
survey of the institution in a number of settings. Our work sets out
to build on that of Butler and Ranney, not to supersede it. By con
centrating on Europe (east as well as west), it is able both to present
a full picture of the referendum experience in a number of different
settings and to identify variations and similarities across the coun
tries of the continent, countries that in many respects possess a
common cultural heritage.
One area where we have followed the lead of Butler and Ranney
concerns the contentious issue of the plural of the word "referen
dum". A respectable case has been put forward to us for "referenda",
using the argument that in Latin "referendum" is a neuter singular of
the gerundive and, as such, it has a plural, so, on an analogy with
"agenda", one should speak of "referenda". The counter-argument is
put forward in the Oxford English Dictionary (1989 edition, p.
466):"referendums is logically preferable as a modern plural form
meaning ballots on one issue (as a Latin gerund referendum has no
plural); the Latin plural gerundive referenda, meaning 'things to be
referred', necessarily connotes a plurality of issues". Faced with
conflicting sets of expert advice, we have opted for "referendums",
in line with the practice of Butler and Ranney, so as not to confuse
an already tangled terminological field further.
Early versions of some of the chapters in this book were presen
ted at a workshop on "The referendum experience in Europe" held
as part of the Joint Sessions of the European Consortium for Politi
cal Research in Madrid in April 1994. The editors have been clear in
their minds from the start about the major difference between a
book, on the one hand, and a collection of workshop papers on the
other, and we should like to record our thanks to our contributors for
amending or completely rewriting their papers in such a way as to
viii
Preface ix
ensure that their chapters conformed with the framework adopted in
this book. In most cases, the contributors' patience did not seem to
evaporate even after the fourth or fifth request for amendments,
further information or clarification. We are particularly grateful to
those contributors - and there were some - who actually met the
editors' deadlines.
We should also like to thank those researchers who attended the
Madrid meeting but whose papers could not, for one reason or an
other, be included in this book: Daniel Hug, Lorenz Kummer, Larry
LeDuc and Yannis Papadopoulos. Their constructive suggestions on
many of the papers presented there means that they, too, have con
tributed to this book.
Others have helped in various fashions, by commenting on indi
vidual chapters, giving advice on specific points, generally encour
aging, or in other ways playing a constructive part in the process of
completing the book. We should like to record our thanks to
Fabienne Greffet, Manthou's, Michael Marsh, Thomas N. Mitchell,
Richard Sinnott, Gniinne Twomey (our patient editor at Macmillan),
Uli Winkler and Rosnida YS. The editors reserved to themselves
alone the pleasurable experiences of preparing camera-ready copy
for, and indexing, this book.
Michael Gallagher and Pier Vincenzo Uteri
Dublin and Firenze, December 1995