Plebiscite
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A plebiscite or referendum (plural: referenda or referendums) is when a country (or a smaller type of government like a city or state) asks the people a certain question on political issues that will affect the country. The people can then either say yes to the proposal (they accept) or they can reject it (say no).
Sometimes, the results of a referendum are binding for the government, at other times they are not.
An example of a recent plebiscite was the voting on the European Constitution in 2005. The vote took place in some countries. France and The Netherlands had a referendum on the subject. In both states, the voters said no to the proposal. Referenda are an integral part of both indirect democracy and more so direct democracy.
Problems with using Referendums
Many political problems can be solved by asking the people their opinion because the supporters of the arguement will be forced to accept the descision of the people.
However
-It is feared that the electorate do not have sufficient political knowledge in order to truly understand what they are voting for
-Philosophers Plato and Madison put forward the arguement that voters are too easily persuaded by their own internal feelings of a matter instead of focussing on the good of the nation. For example the 'Proposition 13' referendum. In California 1987 voters voted for reduced taxation in a state referendum, not thinking about the consequences this would have on services such as the police or emergency services. Later on this had to be reversed. This illustrates the notion that people will vote out of short-term self-interest (without really thinking about the future) unless informed.
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