Referendums as Representative Democracy - by Leah Trueblood (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

In referendums on fundamental constitutional issues, do the people come together to make decisions instead of representatives? This book argues no. It offers an alternative theory of referendums whereby they are one of many ordinary ways that voters give direction to their representatives. In this way, the book argues that referendums are better understood as exercises in representative democracy.

The book challenges the current treatment of referendums in processes of constitutional change both in the UK and around the world. It argues that referendums have been used under the banner of popular sovereignty in a way that undermines representative institutions. This book makes the case for the use of referendums stronger by showing how they can support, rather than undermine, institutions of representative democracy.

Understanding referendums as exercises in representative democracy has broader implications for constitutional democracy as well. Rather than see the power to constitute constitutions as something that happens occasionally in exceptional moments through referendums, this book argues instead that voters constantly have the power to constitute and reconstitute their constitutions.

Review Quotes

"An important book" --British Association of Comparative Law

"This book is a brilliant attack on part of the current constitutionalist orthodoxy [...] Trueblood has presented a conception of referendums and representative democracy that deserves to be taken seriously." --Maris Köpcke, Professor of Legal Philosophy, University of Barcelona, Spain, I-CON

"Leah Trueblood has written an important book about the relationship between referndums and constitutional change. Referendums as Representative Democracy challeges the way in which referendums have been generally conceived by constitutional theorists: rather than mechanisms of direct citizen cotrol, Trueblood argues that referendums should not be understood as exercises of representative democracy." --Joel I. Colón-Ríos, Professor of Law, University of Essex, UK, British Association of Comparative Law

"Trueblood's descriptive account of referendums as, in fact, exercises of representative democracy is hard to fault." --Richard Stacey, University of Toronto, Canada, The Modern Law Review

"Referendums as Representative Democracy is a short yet insightful book that clarifies how referendums are not departures from the normative rationale and practical operation of representative democracies. If representative democracy is at risk, so is the normative foundation of referendums." --Pedro Nobuyuki Urashima, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil, Public Law, 2025

About the Author