The Political Effects of Referendums
An Analysis of Institutional Innovations in Eastern and Central Europe1

Simon Hug2
CIS, IPZ, Universität Zürich

Aug 14, 2005

Abstract

Theory suggests that the political effects of referendums should vary according to the institutional provisions that allow for direct involvement of citizens in decision-making. Relying on extant theoretical models the paper proposes initial tests of some implications for the newly democratized countries in Eastern and Central Europe. The constitutions of these countries distinguish themselves by a wide variety of institutional provisions for referendums. Taking advantage of this increased variance, the paper demonstrates effects of different institutional provisions on policy outcomes, which, so far, have only been demonstrated at the subnational level, e.g. in the United States and Switzerland.


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