Reclaiming Politics: Popular Democracy in Britain after the Scottish Referendum

Referendums are often criticised for being elite‐controlled and undeliberative. This article argues that the detailed, multiactor regulation of the Scottish referendum resulted in an elaborate legal regime which helped to overcome these potential pathologies, diluting executive control and facilitating an exercise in national public engagement. It addresses the troubled history of referendum use in the UK and contends that the Scottish process may well transform how referendums are now viewed. Indeed, one outcome of the Scottish process is likely to be a greater demand at UK level for the use of direct democracy in processes of significant constitutional change. It is by no means certain, however, that these demands for greater popular engagement in the process of constitutional change will be met, particularly when we consider the Smith Commission process, which marks a return to elite interparty bargaining.     

Going it Alone? The Choice of Political Union in British Politics

This article explores the inter‐related debates over Britain's relationship with the EU and that over the future of the UK. It argues that euroscepticism and Scottish independence are based on exceptionalist identities that now revolve around economic policy. Elite euroscepticism cleaves to a neoliberal vision of minimalist regulation, while advocates of Scottish independence claim Westminster's austerity policies make the British Union incompatible with social democracy. However, this presentation of the choice facing British voters ignores the serious contradictions that overhauling the current order entails. Both forms of exceptionalism fail to recognize the significant limitations of self‐government outside and within the EU. If Conservatives can contain their neoliberal flirtation with EU withdrawal they are very well placed to prosper electorally. The dilemma of which union(s) to choose might thus constitute the prelude to the entrenchment of the economic and political order that gave rise to such contestation in the first place.     

修宪权正当程序控制论

为防范修宪权的滥用，必须对其施加程序控制。正当的修宪程序不仅具有工具性价值，而且还具有促进民主性、提升民族理性和树立宪法权威性等独立价值。正当的修宪程序应该遵循平等参与、刚性、修宪权能适度分散行使和效率等原则。考察各国修宪权程序控制模式，发现大多数国家的宪法往往会将修宪动议主体与修宪议案决定主体结合起来考虑，使二者能够起到既相互制约又互为补充的作用。我国的修宪程序在参与性、刚性和权能分散性方面存在明显的不足。应当赋予国务院和最高人民法院修宪动议权，规定人民的讨论权，修宪议案的决定应该采取代表与人民分享部分内容的共决型模式，即某些宪法条款全国人大就有权决定修改，而另外一些宪法条款则只有人民以全民公决的方式才能决定是否修改。     

全民公决、民族自决与主权原则--从国际法角度谈直布罗陀全民公决

2002年11月7日,英国属地直布罗陀就其主权归属问题举行了全民公决,99％的居民对英西共享直布罗陀主权的计划 投了否决票,引起了此次公决结果是否具有法律效力的疑问。从国内法和国际法的理论和原理上,此次公决并不背离传统的民族自决 权原则,具有充分的有效性。     

独立公投、国家主权与国际法——理论基础及全球实践视角下独立公投的国际法检视

独立公投作为民族自决原则的重要实践方式,在国家理论与国内法、国家主权与国际法、实践效果与时代需要等三个方面都有其充分的合法性及理论基础。考察国际法维度上的独立公投全球实践,分析62个国家或地区进行的87次独立公投,它们在公投时间、公投法律依据、公投结果、国际社会承认、公投国家或地区四个方面,呈现诸多特点。通过对独立公投机制的国际法理论检视,可以得出结论:独立公投的国际法基础应是原主权所有者的同意或违法阻却;民族自决原则下独立公投的行使主体应不限于"民族";独立公投的适用对象不应包括主权归属存在争议之领土;国际社会应当促进独立公投从国际法进入国内法成为一项公民权利。     

Voting on Europe: The Potential Pitfalls of a British Referendum

As Britain prepares for a possible referendum on continued membership of the European Union, it is essential that more careful thought is paid to the dynamics of referendums. Polling data reveal the existence of a substantial knowledge deficit in the UK and other parts of the EU: large numbers of voters simply do not understand the EU. There is also reason to question the conventional view that voters can correct for such a deficit by using cues from opinion leaders and the media. The experience of recent referendums in other EU member states suggests that many voters will take part in the proposed British referendum without independent and informed knowledge of the issues at stake, that many will have been swayed by partisan elite opinion, and that many will decide on the basis of their views about domestic politics rather than their views about Europe.     

Beyond for or against? Multi-option alternatives to a corrective referendum

Referendums commonly offer a binary choice between supporting and rejecting proposed legislation. Binary designs benefit from simplicity and guarantee a majority result, but also provoke voting biases and interpretation challenges. Referendum designs offering multiple policy alternatives provide a different approach which could alleviate binary referendum challenges whilst maintaining the aggregative benefits. Offering more than two options, however, raises new challenges in designing the referendum process and obtaining majority results. This article uses survey data collected on a corrective referendum held in the Netherlands in 2018 to compare the challenges faced by binary and multi-option referendum designs respectively. The analysis demonstrates how the multi-option design empowers voters in expressing their preferences and delivers more detailed and constructive referendum results. Building on the survey data, the article subsequently discusses the challenges of extending choice and concludes that alternative voting methods can mitigate some of these challenges.     

Beyond polarity in Zanzibar? The ‘silent’ referendum and the government of national unity

On 31 July 2010 the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar held a referendum to decide on the government of national unity so as to end the impasse between the two main political camps, each dominating one of the two islands of Unguja and Pemba. The outcome of the referendum was that the majority of Zanzibaris voted in favour of the government of national unity. This article revisits how the referendum was carried out in terms of observing the basic principles of a democratic referendum and whether the referendum would be a panacea for the polarisation between the two islands. The main argument held here is that the referendum fell short of observing some of the basic principles of a democratic referendum since it systematically suppressed the voices of those who opted for a ‘No’ vote. Besides this, the government of national unity created after the referendum was in essence the unity of the two major political parties, namely the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) and the Civic United Front (CUF). Relatedly, some of the fundamental issues causing polarisation are yet to be tackled, a situation which, if not addressed in time, would make this polarity a likely facet of Zanzibar's future politics.     

Referendums on Membership and European Integration 1972–2015

There are many myths about referendums. The most common one is that voters are inherently sceptical and tend to vote no when given the opportunity. This article analyses some of the commonly held ‘truths’ about referendums on EU matters. Based on a statistical analysis of all forty‐three EU‐related referendums since 1972, it shows that governments tend to lose referendums if they have been in office for a long time, that emotive words on the ballot paper are correlated with a high yes vote and that a high turnout is correlated with a vote against European integration, but campaign spending is inconsequential. Based solely on statistical evidence from the previous forty‐three referendums, the opponents of EU membership will win the Brexit referendum.     

Migration,Internal Security and the UK's EU Membership

A key part of the debate about the UK's membership of the EU is concern about levels of migration and the impact upon security. This paper assesses how much impact EU membership has on each of these issues, and examines the likely impact of leaving the EU in each of these areas.