A democratic theory of ballot measures
department or school: Arts, Faculty of
department or school: Political Science, Department of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: McKay, Spencer
issued: 2019-10-11T16:33:03Z
issued: 2019
related degree: Doctor of Philosophy - PhD
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Ballot measures, such as referendums and initiatives, are seen primarily as mechanisms of ‘direct democracy’, as supplements to ‘representative democracy’, or as failures of ‘deliberative democracy’. However, the recent systemic turn in democratic theory suggests that we should understand ballot measures within the contexts of democratic systems. I argue that the key function of ballot measures in democratic systems is to institutionalize opportunities for citizens to legislate. More specifically, we can extend Waldron’s principles of legislation to serve as the basis for a democratic theory of ballot measures. However, since we cannot simply transpose principles of legislation that were developed for legislatures to ballot measures, we need a theory of ballot measures as institutions of mass legislation. I suggest that synthesizing principles of legislation and election makes it possible to develop a coherent approach to evaluating ballot measures that moves past conflicting judgments that have their origins in distinct and often incommensurable models of democracy. From this vantage point, we can clearly theorize how ballot measures might be reconceived and redesigned to contribute to the political functions of inclusion, agenda-setting, will-formation, and decision-making that should be integral to any democratic system.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/71888
note: A DEMOCRATIC THEORY OF BALLOT MEASURES by Spencer McKay B.Soc.Sc, The University of Ottawa, 2012 M.A., The University of British Columbia, 2013 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Political Science) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) October 2019 © Spencer McKay, 2019 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the dissertation entitled: A Democratic Theory of Ballot Measures submitted by Spencer McKay in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science Examining Committee: Mark Warren Supervisor Richard Johnston Supervisory Committee Member Hélène Landemore Supervisory Committee Member Maxwell Cameron University Examiner Hoi Kong University Examiner iii Abstract Ballot measures, such as referendums and initiatives, are seen primarily as mechanisms of ‘direct democracy’, as supplements to ‘representative democracy’, or as failures of ‘deliberative democracy’. However, the recent systemic turn in democratic theory suggests that we should understand ballot measures within the contexts of democratic systems. I argue that the key function of ballot measures in democratic systems is to institutionalize opportunities for citizens to legislate. More specifically, we can extend Waldron’s principles of legislation to serve as the basis for a democratic theory of ballot measures. However, since we cannot simply transpose principles of legislation that were developed for legislatures to ballot measures, we need a theory of ballot measures as institutions of mass legislation. I suggest that synthesizing principles of legislation and election makes it possible to develop a coherent approach to evaluating ballot measures that moves past conflicting judgments that have their origins in distinct and often inco…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2019-11
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0383358
language: eng
degree discipline: Political Science
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/71888