Abstract
AbstractPushed by technological, cultural and related political drivers, a ‘new plebiscitary democracy’ is emerging which challenges established electoral democracy as well as variants of deliberative democracy. The new plebiscitary democracy reinvents and radicalizes longer-existing methods (initiative, referendum, recall, primary, petition, poll) with new tools and applications (mostly digital). It comes with a comparatively thin conceptualization of democracy, invoking the bare notion of a demos whose aggregated will is to steer actors and issues in public governance in a straight majoritarian way. In addition to unravelling the reinvented logic of plebiscitary democracy in conceptual terms, this article fleshes out an empirically informed matrix of emerging formats, distinguishing between votations that are ‘political-leader’ and ‘public-issue’ oriented on the one hand, and ‘inside-out’ and ‘outside-in’ initiated on the other hand. Relatedly, it proposes an agenda for systematic research into the various guises, drivers and implications of the new plebiscitary democracy. Finally, it reflects on possible objections to the argumentation.
Highlights
Pushed by technological, cultural and related political drivers, a ‘new plebiscitary democracy’ is emerging which challenges established electoral democracy as well as variants of deliberative democracy
The turn to deliberative democracy in the late 20th century was seen to be related to the coming of age of a new social and political culture, which had pushed values of active participation, open communication and self-expression since the late 1960s
It seems that the new plebiscitary democracy is pushed by the more recent rise of populism – favouring more ‘hardball’, aggregative and majoritarian practices
Summary
Leadership-challenging clicksultation (e.g. Podemos e-referendum/recall on party leadership). Leadership-monitoring internet polls (e.g. party-commissioned popularity polls made public). Elite-monitoring social media/data analytics (e.g. government-commissioned sentiment ratings made public). Underlying formats Party-organized primaries and recalls, elite-monitoring polls (pre-internet)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
