Why are highly informed citizens sceptical of referenda?

Anderson, Cameron D.; Goodyear-Grant, Elizabeth

doi:10.1016/j.electstud.2009.12.004

Cited by 50 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Thus, in this perspective, citizens who are more interested and engaged in politics and possess greater cognitive skills are seen to be the driving force behind public support for referendums because these offer an additional opportunity for political expression (see Schuck and de Vreese, 2011). 1 However, the picture is more nuanced and Anderson and Goodyear-Grant (2010) argue that highly informed citizens are sometimes even sceptical of referendums. They note that 'an intriguing tension presents itself in that those citizens who may be best equipped for referendum voting, the highly informed and politically sophisticated, are the least likely to support the use of this tool of direct democracy ' (p. 227).…”

Section: The Cognitive Mobilization Hypothesis E the Role Of Civic Dutymentioning

confidence: 98%

Public support for referendums in Europe: A cross-national comparison in 21 countries

Schuck

Vreese

2015

Electoral Studies

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a b s t r a c tPrevious research is unclear about who supports the use of referendums and why. One line of research suggests that people with greater cognitive resources are more supportive of referendums. Another line claims that referendums are supported by citizens who feel disconnected from the political process. We integrate both perspectives, include civic duty and political cynicism as key explanatory variables, and offer a model explaining referendum support across Europe drawing on both individual and contextual factors. Our study is based on a survey conducted in 21 EU member states (N ¼ 22,806). Results show support for both perspectives and for our new indicators, suggesting that referendum support is highest among citizens who are critical of traditional party politics but committed to democratic practices.

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Section: The Cognitive Mobilization Hypothesis E the Role Of Civic Dutymentioning

confidence: 98%

Public support for referendums in Europe: A cross-national comparison in 21 countries

Schuck

Vreese

2015

Electoral Studies

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“…). Level of education has been shown to negatively relate to preferences for direct democratic decision making (Anderson & Goodyear‐Grant ; Coffé & Michels ) and was therefore included. Finally, respondents were questioned on their age, gender and generalised trust ( Most people can be trusted , 1–7, ESS ).…”

Section: Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

If I'll win it, I want it: The role of instrumental considerations in explaining public support for referendums

Werner

2019

European J Political Res

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Across established democracies, citizens express high levels of support for decision making via referendums. What drives these preferences remains yet unclear. In this article it is argued that, first, process preferences are less stable than previously assumed but vary substantially across policy proposals. Second, it is suggested that instrumental considerations play an important role in shaping citizens' preferences for referendums. Specifically, citizens who favour the policy proposal or believe that they hold a majority opinion are expected to express more support for the use of referendums. An original survey was designed and conducted in the Netherlands (N = 1,289) that contains both between and within respondent variation across a range of policy proposals. The findings support these arguments: Both the desire for a specific policy change and the perception of being in the majority with one's policy preference relate to support for the use of referendums across policy proposals, levels of governance, and between and within respondents. This study contributes to a better understanding of process preferences by showing that these preferences have a non-stable component and that instrumental considerations play an important role in citizens' support for referendums.

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“…Attitudes toward democratic decision-making processes and stealth democracy orientations Political dissatisfaction and distrust for fundamental actors of representative democraciessuch as parties and politiciansare widely spread in advanced democracies (Norris, 1999;Dalton, 2004;Allen and Birch, 2014). Demands for more participatory and direct decision-making processes have increased and have already been documented in some studies (Dalton et al, 2001;Donovan and Karp, 2006;Bowler et al, 2007;Bengtsson and Mattila, 2009;Anderson and Goodyear-Grant, 2010;Neblo et al, 2010). However, the literature has also shown some limits in the support for increased participation (Dalton et al, 2001;Donovan and Karp, 2006;Font et al, 2012), has demonstrated that these demands do not translate into actual participation (Webb, 2013), and has cast doubt on the nature of the support for more direct procedures (Pateman, 1970;Barber, 1984).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stealth democracy and the support for new and challenger parties

Lavezzolo

Ramiro

2017

Eur. Pol. Sci. Rev.

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In the wake of the 2008 Great Recession, new and challenger parties have enjoyed electoral gains in some European countries. Political and economic disaffection have been pointed out as the main drivers of their electoral support. This article proposes voter’s stealth democracy attitudes, as defined by Hibbing and Theiss-Morse, as an additional driving force to account for this electoral change. We examine the case of Spain with a survey conducted after the far-reaching transformation of the party system, which has led to the emergence of two new parties:Ciudadanos(on the center-right) andPodemos(on the radical-left). We find that stealth democracy attitudes are positively related to the support for the former and negatively related to the support for the latter. Additionally, we provide evidence of this relationship being conditional on voters’ ideology. The study illustrates how an unexplored attitudinal dimension contributes to party system change, and how the relevance of these attitudes might go beyond the temporary political discontent caused by the economic crisis.

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Why are highly informed citizens sceptical of referenda?

Cited by 50 publications

References 32 publications

Public support for referendums in Europe: A cross-national comparison in 21 countries

Public support for referendums in Europe: A cross-national comparison in 21 countries

If I'll win it, I want it: The role of instrumental considerations in explaining public support for referendums

Stealth democracy and the support for new and challenger parties

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