Bringing the Policy In: A New Typology of National Referendums

Scholarship has categorized referendums predominantly along their procedural and

institutional features. This paper moves beyond these formal dimensions, argues

that the policy subjected to a popular vote is the missing link and proposes a complementary

typology based on the policy areas. This typology fosters comparisons

across countries, political systems and over time within one policy area, thus serving

as a powerful analytical tool for further analyses. At the same time, the typology

maps out the history of referendum use showing the chronology of salient issues

in different societies. The empirical evidence draws on an original dataset of 630

nationwide referendums in Europe between 1793 and 2019.