Exploring the referendum practices of eight European states, this book unpacks the intricacies of the institutional and procedural settings of referendum authorization to reach an equilibrium between ...the exercise of popular sovereignty and the protection of rule of law. The book also examines how, by authorizing certain issues and refusing others, state institutions can exercise considerable control over the whole referendum process.
With the rise of direct-democratic instruments, the relationship between popular sovereignty and the rule of law is set to become one of the defining political issues of our time. This important and ...timely book provides an in-depth analysis of the limits imposed on referendums and citizens' initiatives, as well as of systems of reviewing compliance with these limits, in 11 European states.
