Direct Democracy in the Baltic States: Institutions, Procedures and Practice in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania

From the end of 1980s the Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania successfully moved towards re-independence. At that stage referendums were a useful tool to carry through the transition peacefully. Today, each constitution of the Baltic Republics provides for instruments of direct democracy th...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal:	Somer, Evren
Formato:	Working Paper NonPeerReviewed
Lenguaje:	Inglés
Publicado:	2012
Materias:	C2D Working Paper Series 320 Political science 340 Law 900 History Direct democracy, referendum, initiative, Baltic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, veto power
Acceso en línea:	http://dx.doi.org/10.5167/uzh-95339 http://biblioteca.clacso.edu.ar/gsdl/cgi-bin/library.cgi?a=d&c=ch/ch-001&d=95339oai
Aporte de:	Red de Bibliotecas Virtuales de Ciencias Sociales (CLACSO) de Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales

id	I16-R122-95339oai
record_format	dspace
institution	Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales
institution_str	I-16
repository_str	R-122
collection	Red de Bibliotecas Virtuales de Ciencias Sociales (CLACSO)
language	Inglés
topic	C2D Working Paper Series 320 Political science 340 Law 900 History Direct democracy, referendum, initiative, Baltic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, veto power
spellingShingle	C2D Working Paper Series 320 Political science 340 Law 900 History Direct democracy, referendum, initiative, Baltic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, veto power Somer, Evren Direct Democracy in the Baltic States: Institutions, Procedures and Practice in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
topic_facet	C2D Working Paper Series 320 Political science 340 Law 900 History Direct democracy, referendum, initiative, Baltic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, veto power
description	From the end of 1980s the Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania successfully moved towards re-independence. At that stage referendums were a useful tool to carry through the transition peacefully. Today, each constitution of the Baltic Republics provides for instruments of direct democracy that have been used in different ways. It is assumed that the possibility of a referendum introduces the people into the decision-making process as an additional veto player whose participation is needed for a change in the legislative status quo. It is further expected that direct democratic instruments empower the citizens, forming a broader spread of power. The results reported in this paper, however, challenge these assumptions. Regardless of the mechanism employed, direct democracy fails to fulfil the desired effect of allowing citizens to take political decisions directly and over the heads of their representatives. Rather, referendums have been used strategically for partisan interest. The poor performance of direct democracy in the Baltic States to date is not only a result of strategic choices made by the authorities, but also of citizen-unfriendly procedural designs. In all three countries there are many formal constraints diminishing the will of the people.
format	Working Paper NonPeerReviewed Working Paper NonPeerReviewed
author	Somer, Evren
author_facet	Somer, Evren
author_sort	Somer, Evren
title	Direct Democracy in the Baltic States: Institutions, Procedures and Practice in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
title_short	Direct Democracy in the Baltic States: Institutions, Procedures and Practice in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
title_full	Direct Democracy in the Baltic States: Institutions, Procedures and Practice in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
title_fullStr	Direct Democracy in the Baltic States: Institutions, Procedures and Practice in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
title_full_unstemmed	Direct Democracy in the Baltic States: Institutions, Procedures and Practice in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
title_sort	direct democracy in the baltic states: institutions, procedures and practice in estonia, latvia and lithuania
publishDate	2012
url	http://dx.doi.org/10.5167/uzh-95339 http://biblioteca.clacso.edu.ar/gsdl/cgi-bin/library.cgi?a=d&c=ch/ch-001&d=95339oai
work_keys_str_mv	AT somerevren directdemocracyinthebalticstatesinstitutionsproceduresandpracticeinestonialatviaandlithuania
bdutipo_str	Repositorios
_version_	1764820427317706754

Direct Democracy in the Baltic States: Institutions, Procedures and Practice in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania

Ejemplares similares