The referendum is a method of referring a question or set of questions to the electorate directly rather than allowing them to be settled by the people’s representatives in the legislature (see direct democracy and representative democracy). It was used frequently in the USA from the revolutionary period at the state level and was used even earlier, and frequently since, in Switzerland. The policy question may originate from a group of electors directly via an initiative or from an official body such as a state government, legislature or constitutional council. It has been used to determine basic constitutional questions, for example in Greece to decide whether to retain the monarchy after the restoration of democracy, and in France in 1962 to decide whether the president should be directly elected. The referendum is also often used to determine issues of morality which divide a government or party (as with the questions of legalizing divorce and abortion in Italy or Ireland) and to settle local matters which it is thought are best left to individual areas to decide (for example the sale of alcohol on the Sabbath in Wales). Referendums have also been manipulated and exploited to enhance the personal power of an autocratic ruler as occurred in France in 1851 after Napoleon III’s coup d’état and in Germany after Adolf Hitler obtained full political power in 1934.
In these cases the referendum is seen as conferring legitimacy and popular approval on an individual, and sanctions unconstitutional or extra-legal activity. The development of the European Union (EU) has seen an increase in the frequency of referendums in its member states, as many are constitutionally obliged to submit major EU treaties directly to the electorate.
The form which the referendum takes and its legal effect varies with political systems. The referendum may be purely advisory, or it may be binding in the sense that either a measure requires ratification in a referendum to enter into force or that a referendum result places an obligation on the executive or legislature to act in conformity with the popular decision within a specified period (see plebiscitory democracy). In this latter case, as with the use of citizen-inspired propositions in California, enormous problems may arise when a state government and legislature finds itself obliged to legislate a proposal which it either thinks absurd or literally cannot achieve. For example, in the 1980s Californian referendum results on intiatives proposing the control of insurance companies led to many companies simply refusing to do business in California.
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