THE STRATEGIC USE OF PRESIDENTIAL REFERENDUMS IN POST-SOCIALIST ROMANIA
THE STRATEGIC USE OF PRESIDENTIAL REFERENDUMS IN POST-SOCIALIST ROMANIA
Author(s): Ovidiu Gherasim-ProcaSubject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, Political Sciences, Governance, Government/Political systems, Political behavior, Politics and society, Comparative politics
Published by: Ovidius University Press
Keywords: referendum; consultative referendums; presidential politics; mobilization; anti-corruption; populism; Romania;
Summary/Abstract: Praised by many as a remedy for various democratic deficits and criticized by others for their capacity to promote populist agendas, referendums are key participatory devices of representative democracy. However, a rich corpus of literature describes numerous occasions in which they become merely strategic levers in the hands of politicians instead of substantive popular consultations on policy issues. The Romanian post-socialist political system is no exception to this trend. Among the referendums held between 1990 and 2020, this paper analyses a particular class, those initiated by the President of Romania according to the article 90 of the Constitution, with the aim to discern the general features and the specific context of their strategic use, emphasizing especially the 2019 referendum concerning the justice system, the most recent one of the entire series. My observations confirm and further reinforce prior generalizations regarding the instrumentalization of referendums in post-socialist Romania.
Journal: Annals of the Ovidius University of Constanta - Political Science Series
- Issue Year: 11/2022
- Issue No: 1
- Page Range: 59-87
- Page Count: 29
- Language: English