The deliberative referendum

Abstract

Abstract This chapter moves the investigation to real-life attempts to connect democratic innovations across the deliberative-plebiscitary divide, anchored in representative systems. This chapter concentrates on national-level practices, with special attention to the Irish ‘deliberative referendum’ on abortion that sequenced two strongly contrasting instruments: a deliberative mini-public and a binary referendum. Confronting this case with the values framework set out in Chapter 6, and with relevant mirror cases in other countries, the Irish process is understood as a comparatively successful case of hybrid democratic innovation (HDI), which helped to break a long-standing stalemate and navigate a cultural minefield. The mixed and balanced process catered to different values and audiences and was relatively well-integrated into the established system, amongst others compared to a similar process in Iceland.