The Democratic Quality and Legitimacy of Local Referendums: The Case of the Norwegian Municipal Reform

The need for more participatory democracy and the idea that the involvement of citizens should be encouraged has been promoted in the literature and by politicians; ‘democracy policy’ has appeared as a new policy area. However, dilemmas often arise when participatory tools are used in actual policy-making processes. The paper aims to contribute to an understanding of normative dilemmas and practical choices that local referendums may involve when used in political processes. The empirical basis for the paper is the current municipal reform in Norway, where more than 200 consultative local referendums on municipal amalgamation were held. According to Norwegian law, the municipal council should consult the citizens on boundary changes, by means of referendums, citizen surveys, or in other ways. The national government recommended the use of citizen surveys, whereas many municipalities preferred a referendum. With this empirical point of departure, we ask: What influences the democratic quality and throughput legitimacy of local referendums, compared with other participatory tools, such as citizen surveys? Our data comprise qualitative interviews, survey data and data on the text of the ballot papers. Using Robert Dahl’s criteria for democratic procedures and the Venice Commission’s code on referendums, we discuss the democratic qualities of the Norwegian referendums. Although many democratic standards were met, the wording of questions and alternatives on the ballot paper was problematic in many cases. Regarding the legitimacy of referendums, local politicians considered referendums to be qualitatively different from citizen surveys, and more politically binding – unless special circumstances had diminished the democratic qualities of a specific referendum. This is, we believe, because referendums are inclusive (using Dahl’s terms). However, the Norwegian case also highlights the strategic use of participatory instruments. Political actors tend to choose a participatory tool that will favour their own position on the issue in question.