The Referendum in Britain

The Referendum in Britain

Author: Lucy Atkinson

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2020-11-29

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 0192556703

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The European Union referendum of 23 June 2016 proved to be the trigger for the most prolonged period of political turbulence in the peacetime history of the UK; leading to major policy changes and realignments in the party-political system. This book considers from an historical perspective the democratic device that provided the focus for this upheaval. Beginning in the late nineteenth century, it discusses how the idea of using referendums to resolve major political disputes first came onto the agenda, and why. It considers who advocated it, and in what circumstances. The book describes how referendums eventually came into use from the 1970s onwards, and the different patterns in their deployment in the decades that have followed. Major political figures, from Herbert Henry Asquith and Winston Churchill to Clement Attlee, Harold Wilson and Margaret Thatcher; to Tony Blair, David Cameron, and Boris Johnson form part of the story. Governments have come to power and fallen in the context of demands for referendums or the results they produced. The authors provide detailed accounts of each of the 13 major referendums that have taken place. Referendums took place at UK and sub-UK level. They were held on the position of Northern Ireland (1973) and Scotland (2014) within the UK; on devolution to Wales (1979; 1997; 2011) and Scotland (1979; 1979); on the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement (1998); on devolution to London (1998) and North East England (2004); on the parliamentary voting system (2011); and on UK participation in European integration (1975; 1975). The book provides a constitutional and international perspective, and ask how far the original ideas lying behind the referendum were fulfilled in practice.


Opportunities and Risks of the Proposed Referendum on United Kingdom's Membership in the EU (BREXIT)

Opportunities and Risks of the Proposed Referendum on United Kingdom's Membership in the EU (BREXIT)

Author: Philipp Freund

Publisher:

Published: 2016-01-15

Total Pages: 32

ISBN-13: 9783668125070

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Seminar paper from the year 2015 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: European Union, grade: 1,0, University of Wurzburg (Institut fur Politik und Soziologie), course: UK Politics and the 2015 General Election, language: English, abstract: Our current political situation couldn't be more interesting. Besides global problems on terrorism, global warming and wars all around the world, there is one major topic in our news: it's the EU with its internal problems from financing Greece to internal stability. The last mentioned point will be subject of that paper, because Britain is deeply divided about the proposed referendum on United Kingdom's Membership in the European Union, respectively its opportunities and risks. During the last election in the UK, Prime Minister David Cameron took the referendum into the manifesto of his Conservative Party because of the annual debates about costs and benefits from the EU and after winning the election he now has to stand up for it. The back then started campaign Let Britain decide will now reveal, whether or not the Brits want to stay or not. t is not unreasonable to think about Britain leaving the EU as, for example, Anthony Forster lists the historically settled problems between Europe and Great Britain in his book-summary like it is inevitable for the UK to leave. And talking about the legality of that referendum is therefore not an option, because Article 50 TEU (Treaties of the European Union) settles the possibility of a voluntary resignation (cf. Streinz et al. 2008: 38-39). The main part of the seminar paper is going to start, after introducing the topic in the initiation, with an analytically and descriptively chapter of analysing the pros and cons of leaving the EU. The first section of the main part is therefore divided in two parts, the opportunities and the risks. In the course of doing this, the perspective is clearly aligned to the UK itself, so that one should be able to decide, whethe"


Government by Referendum

Government by Referendum

Author: Matt Qvortrup

Publisher: Pocket Politics

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 99

ISBN-13: 9781526130037

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A perfect primer for anyone interested in the politics of referendums.


Comparative Constitution Making

Comparative Constitution Making

Author: David Landau

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 624

ISBN-13: 1785365266

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Recent years have witnessed an explosion of new research on constitution making. Comparative Constitution Making provides an up-to-date overview of this rapidly expanding field. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial}


The Populist Century

The Populist Century

Author: Pierre Rosanvallon

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2021-11-12

Total Pages: 185

ISBN-13: 1509546308

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Populism is an expression of anger; its appeal stems from being presented as the solution to disorder in our times. The vision of democracy, society, and the economy it offers is coherent and attractive. At a time when the words and slogans of the left have lost much of their power to inspire, Pierre Rosanvallon takes populism for what it is: the rising ideology of the twenty-first century. In The Populist Century he develops a rigorous theoretical account of populism, distinguishing five key features that make up populist political culture; he retraces its history in modern democracies from the mid-nineteenth century to the present; and he offers a well-reasoned critique of populism, outlining a robust democratic alternative. This wide-ranging and insightful account of the theory and practice of populism will be of great interest to students and scholars in politics and the social sciences and to anyone concerned with the key political questions of our time.


The People's Mandate

The People's Mandate

Author: J. Patrick Boyer

Publisher: Dundurn

Published: 1991-01-06

Total Pages: 279

ISBN-13: 1770700676

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A mood of anger with the political system has been stirring across Canada; yet rather than turning away from the system, many Canadians are actually seeking a greater say in matters that affect them. they want to become more effective participants in the political process. In this timely book, Patrick Boyer examines the important role that direct democracy — through the occasional use of referendums, plebiscites, and initiatives — can play in concert with our existing institutions of representative democracy. This concept is not alien to our country, says Boyer, pointing to the two national plebiscites (on prohibition of alcohol in 1898 and conscription for overseas military service in 1942), some sixty provincial plebiscites (on everything from sovereignty-association to abortion, medicare to women’s suffrage, prohibition to ownership of power companies), and several thousand at the municipal level. Direct voting is an important instrument in a truly democratic society, Boyer argues, and it has a more important role in the current reformation of Canada than some in the comfortable growing governing classes want to admit. In addition to clarifying an issue, it is an educational tool, as the plebiscite campaign becomes a national teach-in. Canadians can become participants, rather than mere spectators, in the major changes and transcending issues that affect the future of our country. The People’s Mandate is a helpful guide to understanding the distinctions between plebiscites and referendums in a purely Canadian context. It addresses some of the concerns about this unparliamentary practice, and makes a powerful and logical statement about democracy. In sum, Boyer believes it is essential to govern with the trust of the people.


A.V. Dicey and the Common Law Constitutional Tradition

A.V. Dicey and the Common Law Constitutional Tradition

Author: Mark D. Walters

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2020-11-12

Total Pages: 479

ISBN-13: 1108916023

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In the common law world, Albert Venn Dicey (1835–1922) is known as the high priest of orthodox constitutional theory, as an ideological and nationalistic positivist. In his analytical coldness, his celebration of sovereign power, and his incessant drive to organize and codify legal rules separate from moral values or political realities, Dicey is an uncanny figure. This book challenges this received view of Dicey. Through a re-examination of his life and his 1885 book Law of the Constitution, the high priest Dicey is defrocked and a more human Dicey steps forward to offer alternative ways of reading his canonical text, who struggled to appreciate law as a form of reasoned discourse that integrates values of legality and authority through methods of ordinary legal interpretation. The result is a unique common law constitutional discourse through which assertions of sovereign power are conditioned by moral aspirations associated with the rule of law.