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Constitutional Referendums The British Academy/Leverhulme Senior Research Fellowship provides Professor Tierney with one year's research leave to pursue the project: 'Let the People Decide: Referendums in a Post-Sovereign Age' The project will undertake the first detailed study of ‘constitutional referendums’, combining empirical study and theoretical enquiry to provide a comprehensive account of how direct democracy is used today to settle matters of the highest constitutional consequence. The use of referendums has grown remarkably in the past thirty years and yet the spread of sovereignty referendums as a particular trend is somewhat under-researched. This study in constitutional theory will address two important theoretical issues: first, the relationship today between legal sovereignty and popular sovereignty, and secondly, whether in a globalising age it remains possible to mobilise a deliberative democratic process across a polity, engaging the people meaningfully in public reasoning. Referendums and Deliberative Democracy This project will address the supposed tension between referendums and deliberative democracy.
The project has two key aims: to explore empirically the conditions under which a truly deliberative constitutional process can in fact take place across a polity, engaging the citizenry at large; and secondly, in theoretical terms, evaluating this against the benchmarks of deliberative democracy. There is a strong assumption in political theory and empirical political science that referendum processes are not, and indeed cannot be, properly deliberative because they fail to meet the key requirements of publicity or openness, reason-giving and responsiveness (Gutmann and Thompson, Democracy and Disagreement).
The project promises a significant contribution to this theoretical literature by empirically testing this assumption. Therefore, we propose to connect three disciplinary streams of work: empirical political science, doctrinal public law, and legal and political theory. These will complement each other to help present a picture of how and under what conditions a deliberative conversation on matters of the highest constitutional consequence is in fact possible in the lead-up to a referendum.
For more details see: http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/staff/navrajsinghghaleigh/referendumsanddeliberativedemocracy.aspx Workshop, May 2009 ‘Referendums and Deliberative Democracy’. A multi-disciplinary research workshop in constitutional law, international law, political theory and political science Raeburn Room, Old College, University of Edinburgh, 8 May, 2009 Co-organisers:
Centre for Constitutional Law, University of Edinburgh;
Elections, Public Opinion and Parties (EPOP) research group, University of Edinburgh 9.30 Welcome and workshop introduction: Ailsa Henderson, Navraj Singh Ghaleigh and Stephen Tierney 9.45 a.m. – 11.00 a.m. Deliberative direct democracy: a theoretical possibility? John Parkinson, University of York –Theory of deliberative democracy and referendums Ian O’Flynn, University of Newcastle – Deeply divided societies, referendums and deliberative democracy 11.00 - 11.30 Break 11.30 – 12.45 Can referendums be deliberative? The evidence from empirical work Richard Simeon, University of Toronto – The Neverendum: Canada’s referendum experience Ailsa Henderson, University of Edinburgh - Deliberative democracy before the referendum process: the experience of the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly 12.45 – 2.00 Lunch 2.00 – 3.15
Referendums and new technology: facilitating deliberation? John Morison, Queens University, Belfast - Modelling democracy: E-democracy and decision-making Navraj Singh Ghaleigh, University of Edinburgh – Data, Donations and Deliberation: Mashups in Direct Democracy 3.15 – 3.45 Break 3.45 – 4.30 The law and practice of the referendum process: the international dimension Steven Wheatley, University of Leeds - International law and deliberation: the recent practice of referendums/plebiscites 4.30 – 5.30 Discussion Stephen Tierney, University of Edinburgh will act as discussant, briefly reflecting on the day’s proceedings and chairing a general discussion. 5.30 End of workshop Funding The project has been generously funded by the: Development Trust Research Fund, awarded by the University of Edinburgh's College of Humanities and Social Sciences Canadian Studies Program Development Grant
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