Policy agenda and legitimation: referendums on interethnic relations in Central and Eastern Europe

Gherghina, S. and Silagadze, N. (2018) Policy agenda and legitimation: referendums on interethnic relations in Central and Eastern Europe. Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 24(4), pp. 389-410. (doi: 10.1080/13537113.2018.1522746)

Abstract

The increasing use of referendums in contemporary societies raises several questions about their emergence. Among these, it is unclear why controversial and sensitive issues are subjected to popular vote. So far, limited research has investigated why referendums on interethnic relations are initiated. This article seeks to address this gap in the literature and analyzes these reasons by focusing on all five referendums called on interethnic relations in Central and Eastern Europe. These referendums are those organized in Estonia (1992), Latvia (1998 and 2012), Hungary (2004) and Slovenia (2004). The findings of our qualitative analysis reveal that the initiators were driven either by agenda-setting or policy legitimation incentives.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Gherghina, Dr Sergiu
• Authors: Gherghina, S., and Silagadze, N.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Politics
• Journal Name: Nationalism and Ethnic Politics
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• ISSN: 1353-7113
• ISSN (Online): 1557-2986
• Published Online: 26 October 2018
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2018 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
• First Published: First published in Nationalism and Ethnic Politics 24(4):389-410
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher