Abstract

WELP, Yanina. Spain facing the European referendum: or democracy and its weaknesses. CONfines relacion. internaci. ciencia política [online]. 2009, vol.5, n.10, pp.39-53. ISSN 1870-3569.

One common criticism to the European integration process has been the deficit of democratic legitimacy. Direct consultation through referendum has been proposed as a mechanism to bridge this gap, however, there is a debate about the potentialities and risks of direct democracy. The aim of this paper is to contribute to this debate by analysing the Spanish experience of ratifying the European constitution (February 2005).

Keywords : Referendum; Spain; government; oposition; political parties; European Union.

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