Academic literature on the topic 'Referendum – Italy'

This article analyses the impact of constitutional referendums on the political system in Italy. There were three constitutional referendums conducted in 2001, 2006 and 2016. All of them have been organised by the ruling parties, however, only the first one was successful. In the subsequent referendums, the proposals for amending the constitution have been rejected by voters. The article finds that lack of public support for the government resulted in voting „no” in the referendum.

The authors consider the referendum as the most pronounced form of direct democracy, which is direct decision-making where citizens express themselves by direct and secret ballot on a particular issue. It is not a substitute for representative democracy, but its corrective factor. In this paper, the authors give a systematic overview of good practice of referendums as an instrument of direct democracy, primarily in Switzerland, Italy, Croatia, Denmark, Serbia, Slovenia, Germany, USA, UK, etc., but also the place of referendum democracy in the legal order of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The authors will try to show that a referendum in some of these countries can be a great democratic step forward, but that it can often be not only an instrument for direct will but a negation of direct democracy in several cases. In support of this claim, the authors will point out the legal and political aspects of conducting the referendum.

In this study we have theoretically and practically approached the institution of the local referendum. Therewith, the European life of Romania has compelled us to view aspects of the institution within the legislation and practice of other European states, such as France and Italy. We have found as appropriate this analysis due to the fact that the local referendum, whose involvement in the local or regional communities’ life is more and more visible. In our country the local referendum benefits from a thorough regulation, even if the legislative frame in which the institution is framed is perfectible. In practice, in the last years a multiplication of the local referendums may be observed, in its forms prescribed by law, which proves that the young Romanian democracy has learned to use this mechanism of the participative democracy. The performed compared law analysis has allowed us to also make a comparison, outlined in the conclusions of the study, between what happens to the referendum in other European states, and how the Romanian people understood, through its legislator, to legislate the local referendum and especially how to apply it.

Referenda provide the opportunity for voters to express political economic protest and provide additional ways to support parties they vote for in elections. Alternatively, referenda also provide voters a chance to express their policy references in a way that does not affect which party will lead the government. The rejection of the 2016 Italian Constitutional referendum by 60% of voters and the approval the 2020 Italian Constitutional Referendum by 70% of voters could be a result of changing political economic conditions, influences related to partisanship and party leadership, or a change in approval of the reforms contained within the referendum. The article examines these possibilities in turn and then in a multivariate analysis. First, the overall change in economic discontent, satisfaction with the governing coalition and leaders, and belief in the content of the reforms between 2016 and 2020 will be examined. We also examine the how voters of each of the parties in the 2018 general election shifted on these variables. Then individual level analysis of consistent voters and switchers will assess the relative strength of partisanship, economic, political, and referendum-specific factors in convincing voters to switch their vote. We find that referendum-specific factors had the strongest predictive power followed by those related to government approval. Voters approved of the contents that would reduce the number of politicians in Italy and used the referendum to express support or displeasure with the incumbent’s policy programme. Our results contribute to the studies on second-order elections where voters are allowed for greater expressive preferences.

Although there is little close understanding of Scotland's referendum in Italy, the fact of the referendum, and its result, are of great symbolic importance in current developments as to centre-region relations. Just as ‘devolution’ resonated in Italian politics in the 1990s, not least in the rise of the Lega Nord, so ‘independence’ has fuelled campaigns in a number of regions towards greater autonomy or outright secession. This article reviews the contemporary moves in various regions towards redefining (or breaking) their relationship with ‘Italy’, focussing particularly on the Sardinian case.

A referendum about drug policy was held in Italy on 18 April 1993. In order to understand the terms of the drug policy, we will summarize the history of the Italian drug law (162/90) through the last five years.

AbstractThe 2014 European Parliament election and the 2016 Constitutional Referendum in Italy occurred in the middle of two general elections. These votes, taking place respectively at the beginning and the end of the government led by Matteo Renzi of the Democratic Party (PD), represented a public test of the PD leadership. The election results were diverse in many respects, but they replicate social, economic, political, and cultural differences. In particular, between the two electoral exercises the differential electoral behaviour of South compared with the rest of the country is deepened. Moreover, the results can be interpreted as the outcome of differences in age, educational levels, social, and economic unrest; all these variables are synthesized by the territorial distribution of the vote and this helps in interpreting the evolution of political sentiment in Italy. A spatial statistics methodology is utilized to analyse votes by means of their territorial distributions. The outcomes indicate that referendum result was influenced by the economic vote. Apart from the substance of the constitutional reform, the referendum result can be traced back to economic factors: the absence of perceived economic improvements and the persistence of high unemployment.

Los Estatutos de Autonomía de última generación incorporaron la participación de los ciudadanos como derechos, competencias e instituciones, pero siempre desde la democracia participativa. No obstante, la más reciente legislación autonómica en materia de participación popular de algunas Comunidades Autónomas como Andalucía, Cataluña y Navarra, además de desarrollar aquello previsto en los EE.AA., recogen nuevas modalidades de consulta popular, diferenciadas del referéndum y también de las demás consultas propias de la democracia participativa. Ello nos lleva a cuestionarnos acerca del modelo de ejercicio de democracia a nivel autonómico desde la perspectiva de las consultas populares, llegando a la siguiente conclusión: el modelo de democracia de las Comunidades Autónomas reproduce el modelo de democracia estatal, fundado en la democracia representativa. Aun así, la diferencia entre ambos modelos radica en la complementariedad de esta última: mientras que en el modelo estatal es la democracia directa (y semi directa) quien complementa de forma residual la democracia representativa, en el modelo autonómico este lugar lo ocupa la democracia participativa. Para llegar a esta conclusión se procede delimitando previamente el concepto de consulta popular –tanto a nivel teórico, como en nuestro ordenamiento jurídico- constitucional–; a partir del derecho comparado –con especial relevancia del modelo de democracia en los Estados de EE.UU. y del modelo de democracia de las Regiones de Italia–; y analizando los EE.AA. y el posterior desarrollo legislativo. El punto de partida teórico propone observar la consulta popular desde una doble vertiente: la consulta popular como categoría genérica –donde el referéndum es una subespecie– y la consulta popular como institución propia de participación popular, más allá de los demás instrumentos de democracia participativa. Esta concepción nos conduce a proponer una interpretación que sitúa la consulta popular –que denominamos como tertium genus o híbrida– como un instrumento a caballo del referéndum y de las demás consultas de democracia participativa.
Els Estatuts d’Autonomia d’última generació incorporaren la participació dels ciutadans com a drets, competències i institucions, però sempre des de la democracia participativa. No obstant això, la més recent legislació autonòmica en matèria de participació popular d’algunes Comunitats Autònomes –com Andalusia, Catalunya i Navarra– a més de desenvolupar allò previst als EE.AA., recullen noves modalitats de consulta popular, diferenciades del referèndum i també de les demés consultes populars pròpies de la democràcia participativa. Això ens duu a qüestionar-nos sobre el model d’exercici de democràcia a nivell autonòmic des de la perspectiva de les consultes populars, havent arribat a la següent conclusió: el model de democràcia de les Comunitats Autònomes reprodueix el model de democràcia estatal, fundat sobre la democràcia representativa. Tot i així, la diferència entre ambdós models radica en la complementarietat d’aquesta darrera: mentres que en el model estatal és la democràcia directa (i semi directa) qui complementa de forma residual la democràcia representativa, en el model autonòmic aquest lloc l’ocupa la democràcia participativa. Per arribar a aquesta conclusió es procedeix delimitant prèviament el concepte de consulta popular –tant a nivell teòric, com en el nostre ordenament jurídic-constitucional–; a partir del dret comparat –amb especial rellevància del model de democràcia dels Estats dels EUA i el model de democràcia de les Regions d’Itàlia–; i analitzant els EE.AA. i el posterior desenvolupament legislatiu. El punt de partida teòric proposa observar la consulta popular des d’una doble vessant: la consulta popular com a categoria genèrica –on el referèndum és una subespècie– i la consulta popular com a institució pròpia de participació popular, més enllà dels demés instruments de democràcia participativa. Aquesta concepció ens porta a proposar una interpretació que sitúa la consulta popular –que denominem com a tertium genus o híbrida– com a un instrument a cavall del referèndum i de les demés consultes de democràcia participativa.
The Statutes of Autonomy of the latest generation incorporates the citizen participation as rights, competencies and institutions, but always from the perspective of a participatory democracy. However, the most recent autonomous legislation on popular participation of some Autonomous Communities such as Andalusia, Catalonia and Navarre, in addition to developing what is foreseen in the Statutes of Autonomy, includes new modalities of popular consultation, differentiated from the referendum and from other consultations inherent to participatory democracy. For this reason, the model of the exercise of democracy at the autonomous level is queried from the perspective of popular consultations. A conclusion is drawn that the model of democracy of the Autonomous Communities reproduces the model of state democracy, founded on representative democracy. The difference between the two models lies in the complementarity of the latter: while at the state model it is the direct (and semi direct) democracy that complements representative democracy in a residual way, at the autonomous model this place is occupied by participatory democracy. In order to reach this conclusion, the concept of popular consultation is delimited beforehand, both on a theoretical level and in our legal-constitutional order; on the basis of comparative law, specifically the model of democracy at state level of US and the model of democracy in the Italian regions; by analyzing the Statutes of Autonomy and the subsequent legislative development. The theoretical starting point proposes an observation of popular consultation from a double perspective: popular consultation as a generic category, where the referendum is a subspecies; popular consultation as an institution of popular participation, beyond the other instruments of participatory democracy. This conception leads us to propose an interpretation that situates the popular consultation, which we call tertium genus or hybrid, as an instrument that stands between the referendum and the other participatory democracy consultations.

Defence date: 21 July 2014
Examining Board: Professor Donatella della Porta, European University Institute (Supervisor); Professor László Bruszt, European University Institute; Professor Lance Bennett, University of Washington; Professor Mario Diani, Università degli Studi di Trento.
In 2011, a vast coalition of social movement actors coordinated one of the largest and most successful political campaign that characterized recent Italian history, organizing and winning a referendum that blocked a serious attempt to privatize the entire water distribution network. In a year characterized by intense mobilizations throughout the world – with the Occupy, the 15-M and the so called Arab Spring protests dominating the scene – the main Italian organizations and networks coalesced, with the external support of some small declining or newly formed parties, and gradually captured an increasing attention in society. The main environment of action of the Referendum supporters slowly passed from the Italian streets, assemblies, and squares, to the websites of the organizations, and – during the very last phase of the campaign – to Facebook, finally conquering at least in part the very closed space of the Italian mass media. On Facebook, in particular, the politically oriented communication of the referendum supporters proved to be very pervasive: the words referendum and quorum were the most present in the statuses of the Italian users of this platform for the entire 2011. The dissertation explores in detail this successful campaign, focusing on how the activists elaborated new strategies of online communication and on the processes of adaptation that the emergence of the Social Media in the Italian political environment promoted in this social movement milieu. Adopting a very wide set of methodologies, which includes Digital Ethnography, Social Network Analysis, interviews and data collection through computer programming in Python, the author explores different aspects of the mobilization that are particularly relevant for the broader discussion on online activism and campaigning. In particular, he traces the network of websites that supported the campaign, he observes the online communication practices of the activists on the web and Facebook, he describes the link that connects online and off-line activism during this large-scale campaign, and he connects the different ways of perceiving the social media environment with divergent uses of these platforms.

Defence date: 4 November 2016
Examining Board: Professor Diego Gambetta, European University Institute (Supervisor) ; Professor Alexander H. Trechsel, European University Institute (Co-supervisor) ; Professor John T. Jost, New York University ; Professor Rune Slothuus, Aarhus University
This dissertation explores the effects of information on voting behaviour and political attitudes in three case studies, with a combination of original empirical data and secondary survey data. In Chapter 2 and Chapter 3, I explored how issue-based arguments influenced attitudes and voting behaviour in the cam-paign for the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. Data from a laboratory experiment, two follow-up surveys and additional survey data reveal that information led to different patterns of attitude polar-ization and depolarization, depending on the moderating elements of attitude relevance and decision about how to vote. With regard to voting intentions, campaign arguments increased the support for Scottish independence mainly through reducing the uncertainties related to this referendum option. In Chapter 4, the analysis of an online experiment, in combination with a representative panel survey, aims to identify how negative messages by party leaders affected support for parties in the 2015 British general election. Findings show that negative campaigning polarised the electorate along national iden-tity lines: among British voters, negativity increased support for some of the parties sponsoring the attacks, while among Scottish voters it actually increased support for the target of the attacks. Lastly, in Chapter 5, I examine how the recent introduction of digital television affected turnout and voting behaviour in a series of referendum and election consultations that took place between 2010 and 2013 in Italy. The method applied is a regression discontinuity design that exploits the heterogeneous diffusion of digital television in a quasi-experimental setting. The analysis of two extensive datasets with voting and socio-demographic data at the municipality level that I personally collected confirms that increasing the availability of entertainment channels reduced electoral participation in different referendum and electoral consultations. The studies presented in this thesis indicate that the effects of information on political behaviour might be subtler than early research generally conceived, due to the crucial role of different moderating vari-ables at the individual level. Nevertheless, in a complex political world, subtle effects can still contribute to winning elections. From a normative perspective, identifying how citizens make political decisions in response to information acquires substantial relevance not only for academic research, but also for improving democratic decisions. Without knowing the mechanisms of information processing and the consequences of these mechanisms on opinion formation, the idea that an informed society is a better society remains a vague ideal.

This book focuses on the referendums against water privatization in Italy and explores how activists took to social media, ultimately convincing twenty-seven million citizens to vote. Investigating the relationship between social movements and internet-related activism during complex campaigns, this book examines how a technological evolution — the increased relevance of social media platforms — affected in very different ways organizations with divergent characteristics, promoting at the same time decentralized communication practices, and new ways of coordinating dispersed communities of people. Matteo Cernison combines and adapts a wide set of methods, from social network analysis to digital ethnography, in order to explore in detail how digital activism and face-to-face initiatives interact and overlap. He argues that the geographical scale of actions, the role played by external media professionals, and the activists’ perceptions of digital technologies are key elements that contribute in a significant way to shape the very different communication practices often described as online activism.

The history of nuclear energy policy in Italy is characterized by major shifts. After being a world leader in nuclear energy production in the 1960s, the country stopped its programme in the 1980s. An attempt at rejuvenating and expanding nuclear energy in the early 2000s came to an end after the Fukushima disaster. In both instances a referendum was held. Party competition, coalition politics, changes in government, and Italy’s institutional features, in particular the provisions for holding referendums, are the main factors explaining these policy reversals. The chapter concludes that a relaunch of the nuclear energy programme does not seem impossible, but is unlikely for the foreseeable future.

This book examines how social movements exploited windows of opportunity offered by institutions of direct democracy, in particular through referendums ‘from below’, and the ways in which the socioeconomic and political crisis of neoliberalism affected the referendums' dynamics and results. It considers events that have been either promoted or appropriated by social movements, such as the referendums in Scotland, Italy, Iceland, and Greece, and the consultation on independence in Catalonia. It also discusses the transformative impact of participation from below on the organisational strategies as well as the framing of the referendum campaigns. This chapter provides an overview of normative conceptions of democracy, social movements, and referendums; how referendums presented opportunities for movements; contentious referendum campaigns; issues surrounding the framing of referendum campaigns; and two cases of consultations that involved social movements in Scotland and Catalonia.

This chapter examines the 2011 water referendum in Italy, focusing on the appropriation of opportunities, resource mobilisation, and the framing of the campaign by social movements and civil society organisations. It shows that some of the characteristics of the referendums from below that were observed in Scotland and Catalonia also fit the Italian case. In terms of appropriation of opportunities, the referendum against the privatisation of water supply was far from a single-issue campaign, instead emerging from long-lasting struggles that made use of a multiple and varied repertoire of contention, including institutional and unconventional forms of action. The chapter also discusses how the closing down of opportunities at the national level and the availability of political allies at the local level prompted the use of forms of direct democracy. Finally, it demonstrates how the provision of water became a symbol of resistance to neoliberalism and austerity policies in Italy.

This book has examined how referendums from below serve as opportunities that are particularly conducive to broadening participation as well as enhancing political engagement and understanding among the electorate. Using the campaigns in Scotland, Catalonia and Italy, the book has provided evidence that referendums offer social movements the chance to make a decisive contribution to issues of substantial political importance. By analyzing these movements' resource mobilisation, appropriation of opportunities, and capacity to develop resonant frames, the book has shown how movements have shaped political debates. This concluding chapter summarises the book's main ideas and contributions and considers how some of the traits and patterns identified in the Catalan, Scottish and Italian cases hold in two additional settings: the Icesave referendum in Iceland and the consultation on the Troika's ultimatum in Greece.

This chapter examines the cases of Italy, where a left-wing populist party entered a coalition government; and Austria, where a right-wing party did so. In neither case were the governments themselves anti-constitutional, nor were the constitutional reforms pursued by the parties. Populist parties can act just as “normal” political parties do, at least when they are constrained by the need to maintain a coalition. The chapter concludes with a detailed examination of the Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom and its constitutional aftermath, the prorogation of Parliament, held unlawful by the Supreme Court. The referendum was badly designed, the prorogation at the limits of domestic constitutionalism, though whether it was so arbitrary as to be inconsistent with the rule of law is open to doubt.