Referendums in Consolidated Democracies – Towards a Comparative Approach

Consolidated democracies have been increasingly under pressure in the past years due to rising autocratic and populist voices that put into question representative democratic rule. One prominent response is the increasing direct democratic inclusion of citizens via referendums. Both academically and practically, this trend raises a host of analytical and normative questions. In line with the rising interest in referendums, also research efforts have increase. Yet, due to the obviously great variance, single case studies still dominate the research landscape. To foster more systematic research, the aim of this panel is to promote comparative research on referendums. This introductory paper offers, first, an overview on comparative referendum research in order to evaluate the existing state-of-the-art as well as theoretical and methodological challenges. On this basis, the second and prime objective is to spell out both conceptual and methodological approaches to bring forth comprehensive comparative research on the potential and application of referendums.