Abstract
Provisions for the recall of elected representatives before the completion of their term of office are spreading far and wide. Most activations of this venerable instrument take place at the subnational level, but governors of California are not the only big fish at risk of being netted, as mayors of such metropolitan centres as Bogota, Chisinau, Duisburg, Lima, Nagoya and Warsaw know all too well. One justification for the spread of these practices is that, given the extent of voter disenchantment with elected politicians, they may provide a safety valve to allow those discontented with a given representative to feel that they had been allowed to protest and could influence the government by removing the inadequate individual or authority. That outlet might preserve basic loyalty to the electoral process and its democratic principles. But does recall really operate like that? This chapter explores current empirical evidence on this question.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The number of signatures represents more than 1% of the city electorate of 2.28 million. Defenders of the mayor say the petition is invalid because the signatures were collected before the 12 month grace period was up. The law is not clear on this point, so the commission will have to make a ruling, and that may be challenged in a court.
References
Cronin, T. (1989). Direct Democracy: The Politics of Initiative, Referendum and Recall. Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press.
de Grazia, A. (1951). Public and Republic: Political Representation in America. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Geissel, B., & Jung, S. (2018). Recall in Germany: Explaining the Use of a Local Democratic Innovation. Democratization, 25(8).
Guzmán Hernández, Y. (2014). Cuba: deudas pasadas y retos presentes desde la norma. In Y. Welp & U. Serdült (Eds.), La dosis hace el veneno: la revocatoria del mandato en Suiza, Estados Unidos y América Latina (Serie Ciencia y Democracia) (pp. 187–205). Quito: Consejo Nacional Electoral.
Ketcham, R. (Ed.). (2016). The Anti-Federalist. New York: Signet Classics.
Klarman, M. (2003). The Framers’ Coup. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lijphart, A. (1984). Democracies: Patterns of Majoritarian and Consensus Government in Twenty-One Countries. New Haven: Yale University Press.
McCoy, J. (2006). The 2004 Venezuelan Recall Referendum. Taiwan Journal of Democracy, 2(1), 61–80.
Okamoto, M., & Serdült, U. (2016). Recall in Japan. Paper prepared for presentation at the 24 IPSA World Congress, July 22–28, Poznan, Poland.
Piasecki, A. (2011). Twenty Years of Polish Direct Democracy at the Local Level. In T. Schiller (Ed.), Local Direct Democracy in Europe (pp. 126–137). Germany: Springer.
Qvortrup, M. (2011). Hasta la Vista: A Comparative Institutional Analysis of the Recall. Representation, 47(2), 161–170.
Rappard, W. (1912). The Initiative, Referendum and Recall in Switzerland. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 43, 110–145.
Serdült, U. (2015). A Dormant Institution – History, Legal Norms and Practice of the Recall in Switzerland. Representation – Journal of Representative Democracy, 51(2), 161–172.
Serdült, U., & Welp, Y. (2017). The Levelling Up of a Political Institution. Perspectives on the Recall Referendum. In S. P. Ruth, Y. Welp, & L. Whitehead (Eds.), Let the People Rule? Direct Democracy in the Twenty-First Century. Colchester: ECPR Press.
Spivak, J. (2004). California’s Recall: Adoption of the ‘Grand Bounce’ for Elected Officials. California History, 81(2), 20–63.
Welp, Y. (2016). Recall Referendums in Peruvian Municipalities: A Political Weapon for Bad Losers or an Instrument of Accountability? Democratization, 23(7), 1162–1179.
Welp, Y., & Milanese, J. P. (2018). Playing by the Rules of the Game. The Partisan Use of Recall Referendums in Colombia. Democratization, 25(8), 1379–1396.
White, S. L., & Hill, R. J. (1996). Russia, the Former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe: The Referendum as a Flexible Political Instrument. In P. V. Uleri & M. Gallagher (Eds.), The Referendum Experience in Europe. London: Macmillan.
Whitehead, L. (2017). Between the ‘Fiction’ of Representation and the ‘Faction’ of Direct Democracy. In S. Ruth, Y. Welp, & L. Whitehead (Eds.), Let the People Rule? Direct Democracy in the Twenty-First Century. Colchester: ECPR Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Welp, Y., Whitehead, L. (2020). Recall: Democratic Advance, Safety Valve or Risky Adventure?. In: Welp, Y., Whitehead, L. (eds) The Politics of Recall Elections. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37610-9_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37610-9_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-37609-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-37610-9
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)