الرواق
Volume 12, Numéro 1, Pages 203-219
2026-06-05
Legitimizing Referendums Through Deliberative Democracy
Authors : Esseghier Rouza .
Abstract
Due to the paradoxical nature of referendums and the underlying controversies that resulted from their misuse, a growing literature has emerged in an attempt to establish a legitimate democratic framework for their proper use. Recent research is now attempting to link means of direct democracy with a deliberative process as a way of enhancing the democratic quality of the whole process and fostering the democratic legitimacy of their outcomes. In this respect, two deliberative models seem to have gained a certain consensus in the literature ‘mini-publics’ and ‘citizens assemblies.’ Our paper, therefore, adopts a theory-oriented approach towards the combination of these two different democratic innovations, mainly in the works of four major authors. Our review highlights the potential framework for adopting a deliberative process before the holding of referendums to promote democratic legitimacy.
Keywords
Citizens assemblies ; Deliberative process ; Direct democracy ; Mini-publics ; Referendums ; citizens'assemblies ; deliberative process ; direct democracy ; mini-publics ; referendums
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