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Abstract
Perhaps the most notable development of the second half of the twentieth century, and its greatest achievement, is the rapid global spread of two institutions: democracy and multilateralism. These institutions have collectively made us safer and more prosperous than any previous generation in history. But could the two now be coming into conflict? Recent experience regarding the EU suggests both that referendums as a tool of foreign policy decision-making are likely to become more common in the future, and that they pose major risks for multilateralism and international cooperation.
Notes
1 Green, “Economists say Brexit will damage economy”.
2 Morgan, “University staff back Remain”.
3 Butler and Ranney, Referendums around the world.
4 Hobolt, “The Brexit vote”.
5 Van Middelaar, The passage to Europe.
6 Mendez and Mendez, Referendums on EU Matters.
7 Ruggie, “Multilateralism: anatomy of an institution”.
8 Ruggie, Multilateralism matters.
9 Ibid.
10 Abbott and Snidal, “Why states act through international organisations”.
11 Ruggie, “Multilateralism: anatomy of an institution”; Keohane, “Reciprocity in international relations”.
12 Acemoglu and Robinson, Why Nations Fail; Doyle, “Kant, liberal legacies and foreign affairs”.
13 Keohane et al., “Democracy-enhancing multilateralism”.
14 Scharpf, Governing in Europe.
15 Ruggie, “Multilateralism: anatomy of an institution”; Keohane, “Reciprocity in international relations”.
16 Franklin et al., “Referendum outcomes and trust in government”.
17 De Burca, “If at first you don’t succeed”.
18 Funke et al., “Going to extremes”.
19 European Commission, Public opinion in the EU; Daddow, “The UK media and ‘Europe’”.
20 Kirk and Dunford, “EU referendum”.
21 Kaufmann, “Hard Brexit?”.
22 Pallinger, “Hungarian Migrant Quota Referendum”.
23 Both in its public consultation and official discourse, the Hungarian government has attempted to conflate the plans under discussion at EU level to redistribute refugees, with the philanthropist financier George Soros, who has spoken in favour of burden sharing and integration of refugees but is not associated with the EU plans.
24 Ibolya, “A vote of no confidence”.
25 Jacobsen, “Denmark rejects further EU integration”.
26 Heck, “Oekraïne kan ons niets schelen”.
27 Otjes, “The Netherlands’ referendum on Ukraine”.
28 Swiss Federal Council, Report on the relationship.
29 Past measures approved through referendum include banning the construction of all minarets, even though only four exist in the country, which arguably constitutes a breach of the right to freedom of religion. Moeckli, “Of minarets and foreign criminals”.
30 The sole exception is the reorganisation of state (‘länder’) boundaries.
31 Beach, “A tale of two referendums”.
32 Ibid.
33 Butler and Ranney, Referendums around the world.
34 Hobolt, Europe in Question.
35 Schumpeter, Capitalism, socialism and democracy.
36 Millward Brown IMS, Post Lisbon Treaty Referendum Research Findings.
37 Magleby, “Direct Legislation”.
38 Phillips, “Colorado asked voters to end slavery”.
39 The question to which voters were asked to answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ was: “Should the plan agreement submitted by the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund in the Euro-group of 25.06.2015, be approved? It consists of two parts, which constitute an aggregate proposal: the first document is entitled ‘Reforms for the Completion of the Current Program and beyond’ and the second ‘Preliminary Debt Sustainability Analysis’.”
40 Longo and Murray, “No ode to joy?”.
41 McCombs and Shaw, “Agenda-setting function of mass media”.
42 Daddow, “The UK media and ‘Europe’”.
43 Hibbing and Theiss-Morse, Stealth democracy.
44 Schumpeter, Capitalism, socialism and democracy.
45 Mendez and Mendez, Referendums on EU Matters.
46 Franklin et al., “Referendum outcomes and trust in government”.
47 Bogdanor, “Western Europe”.
48 Butler and Ranney, Referendums around the world.
49 Even if, notably, most of these philosophers, such as Socrates, Aristotle and Plato, did not actually regard such democratic decision-making as preferable to other forms of government, which they viewed as more enlightened.
50 Rousseau, The social contract.
51 Ibid.
52 Altman, Direct democracy worldwide.
53 Cronin, Direct Democracy.
54 Magleby, Direct Legislation; Hibbing and Theiss-Morse, Stealth democracy.
55 Mendez and Mendez, Referendums on EU Matters.
56 Mendez et al., Referendums and the European Union.
57 Altman, Direct democracy worldwide.
58 Dennison and Pardijs, World according to Europe’s insurgent parties.
59 Armingeon and Guthman, “Democracy in crisis?”.
60 Mendez and Mendez, Referendums on EU Matters.
61 Funke et al., “Going to extremes”.
62 Crozier et al., The crisis of democracy; Dalton, Democratic challenges, democratic choices.
63 Inglehart, The silent revolution.
64 Dalton and Welzel, The civic culture transformed.
65 Ibid.
66 Altman, Direct democracy worldwide.
67 Mill, Considerations on representative government.
68 Uleri and Gallagher, The referendum experience in Europe.
69 Chadwick and May, “Interaction between states and citizens”.
70 Schmitter, “e-Voting, e-Democracy and EU-democracy”.
71 Habermas, “Why Europe needs a constitution”.
72 Ruggie, “Multilateralism: anatomy of an institution”.
73 Haas, The uniting of Europe.
74 Smith, “The Functional Properties of the Referendum”.
75 Mendez and Mendez, Referendums on EU Matters.
76 Canovan, “Trust the people!”.