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Designing Popular Vote Processes for Democratic Systems: Counter‐Proposals, Recurring Referendums, and Iterated Popular Votes
Author(s) -
McKay Spencer
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
swiss political science review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.632
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1662-6370
pISSN - 1424-7755
DOI - 10.1111/spsr.12316
Subject(s) - ballot , context (archaeology) , normative , democracy , political science , direct democracy , process (computing) , law and economics , voting , public administration , sociology , political economy , public relations , law , computer science , politics , paleontology , biology , operating system
Normative evaluations of popular vote processes, such as referendums and initiatives, often pay attention to specific aspects of institutional design, such as whether a popular vote process is binding or advisory. While it is necessary to analyze these specific features, I contend that we need to do so in the context of the broader democratic system in which popular vote processes are situated because these specific design features may have distinct consequences depending on the context. I contend that taking this systemic view also makes it possible to understand the circumstances in which democratic innovations could address democratic deficits that are commonly associated with particular types of ballot measures.