UvA

Jan-Herman Reestman elaborates national referendums. They have served the Fifth French Republic well in not only helping to introduce and to anchor its system of government, but also in giving it its seemingly definite shape (cf. 1962: introduction of the principle of direct election of the President; 2000: reduction of the presidential term to 5 years). The question is whether, in doing so, referendums have not made themselves superfluous. The Constitution of 1958 gives the French President the power to organize referendums for the approval of constitutional amendments and the adoption of (certain) legislative acts. However, the argument developed here is that for several reasons there is no longer a need for the President to call referendums. The constitutional amendment of July 2008, which gives the combined parliamentary and societal opposition the power to initiate a referendum under certain conditions, does not seem to change the picture.