On the problems of responsibility and accountability in referendums
On the problems of responsibility and accountability in referendums
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论公民投票中的责任和问责问题
DOI：
10.1111/j.1475-6765.2006.00630.x
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发表时间：
2006
影响因子：
5.3
通讯作者：
Maija Setälä
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Maija Setälä
.代议制民主的 支持者往往对全民公投持批评态度。他们认为，公投赋予公民更多的政治决策责任，而不是他们的能力或能力。此外，他们认为，公投可能会破坏代表的责任感。本文从民主的规范性理论，特别是协商民主理论出发，对责任和问责的争论进行了分析。此外，还对公投的不同制度形式进行了分析。特别注意以下几个方面：政府在多大程度上控制全民投票的使用，全民投票如何与议会决策互动，以及全民投票是咨询性的还是具有约束力的。有人认为，有时政府确实利用其对全民投票的控制来避免在困难的问题上采取立场。然而，更重要的是，目前由政府发起的全民投票形式往往削弱代表的问责制，至少在解释为自由民主和协商民主时是这样，并扭曲议会的审议。由于授权在现代民主政体中是必要的，全民投票不应破坏代议制民主的机制。除了公民的能力和能力问题外，在设计全民投票机构时还应考虑到这一观点。
. Supporters of representative democracy tend to be critical of referendums. They argue that referendums give citizens more responsibility for political decisions than they have either the capacity or the competence to take. Moreover, they argue that referendums may undermine representatives' accountability. In this article, these arguments about responsibility and accountability are analyzed in the light of normative theories of democracy, especially the theory of deliberative democracy. Furthermore, different institutional forms of referendum are analyzed. Particular attention is paid to the following aspects: the extent to which governments control the use of referendums, how referendums interact with parliamentary decision making, and whether referendums are advisory or binding. It is argued that sometimes governments indeed use their control over referendums to avoid taking stands on difficult issues. More importantly, however, current forms of government-initiated referendums tend to weaken the accountability of the representatives, at least when interpreted in terms of liberal and deliberative democracy, and to distort parliamentary deliberations. Since delegation is a necessity in modern democracies, referendums should not undermine the mechanisms of representative democracy. In addition to the issues of citizens' capacity and competence, this viewpoint should be taken into account when designing referendum institutions.