This book provides a comprehensive summary and analysis of all the nationwide referendums since
1793. Referendums are ubiquitous and they are increasingly becoming vehicles for political
change - or sometimes vehicles of conservatism. In 2016 for example the voters in the United
Kingdom caused a major upheaval when they voted for leaving the European Union. Later in the
same year a majority of the voters in Colombia rejected a peace plan carefully negotiated by
the political elites to end decades of civil war. Were these decisions prudent? Why were these
issues submitted to referendums? Why did the majority of voters vote against the governments'
recommendations? Have 'the people' had grown tired of the old political class? Was this a new
tendency? These are some of the questions addressed in this new edition which will be
compulsory reading for anyone interested in or concerned about populism and democracy.
