https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145720 2026-05-05T23:04:21Z 2026-05-05T23:04:21Z Clegg, Peter Grenade, Wendy https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145865 2026-04-23T12:19:19Z 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Guest editorial introduction : referendums in small states and territories : a comparative analysis Authors: Clegg, Peter; Grenade, Wendy Abstract: This guest editorial introduces a special section exploring the politics of referendums in small states and territories through a comparative lens. While referendums are commonly viewed as decisive instruments of popular sovereignty, the cases assembled here demonstrate that, in small polities, they rarely deliver clear or final resolutions. Drawing principally on examples from Europe, the Caribbean, and the Pacific, the section explores how structural conditions such as economic vulnerability, demographic scale, colonial legacies, and unequal relations with metropolitan powers shape referendum campaigns and outcomes. Contributors demonstrate that referendums often function less as mechanisms of settlement than as iterative moments within longer constitutional trajectories defined by uncertainty, negotiation, and managed ambiguity. Particular attention is paid to referendum design, franchise boundaries, legitimacy, and the emotional and narrative dimensions of campaigning. Taken together, the articles argue that referendums in small states and territories are best understood as contingent, politically embedded processes whose democratic value depends on context, sequencing, and integration within broader constitutional debates.

2026-01-01T00:00:00Z Oliver, Thom Winters, Kristi https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145864 2026-04-23T12:08:38Z 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Narrating constitutional futures : comparative emotional and identity dynamics in the Scottish Independence and European Union referendums Authors: Oliver, Thom; Winters, Kristi Abstract: Referendums in small states and territories are often marked by the elusive nature of a successful ‘Yes’ vote. This article examines the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum and the 2016 European Union (EU) Referendum (Brexit) as comparative cases to explore this dynamic. Drawing on the Qualitative Election Study of Britain (QESB), we analyse focus group and interview data to foreground the emotional and narrative dimensions of both campaigns. In Scotland, the Yes campaign sought to mobilise pride, empowerment, and a vision of self-determination, but these appeals were ultimately weakened by voter caution, concerns about economic risk, and fragmented elite messaging, resulting in a failed bid for independence. By contrast, in the EU referendum the Leave campaign was able to turn a change vote into a successful mobilisation, combining a populist narrative of sovereignty and control with emotionally resonant slogans such as ‘Take Back Control’. Meanwhile, Remain’s reliance on economic warnings was widely perceived as negative or scaremongering. Taken together, the two cases highlight how pro-change campaigns succeed or fail not only due to institutional constraints but also through their capacity to sustain emotionally resonant stories of transformation in the face of risk.

2026-01-01T00:00:00Z Nielsen, Rasmus Leander Pram Gad, Ulrik https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145863 2026-04-23T12:06:07Z 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Referendums and postcoloniality in Greenland : self-determination and action space as collateral damage of bounding and un-bounding demoi Authors: Nielsen, Rasmus Leander; Pram Gad, Ulrik Abstract: Referendums are used to constitute the ‘will of the people’ at a snapshot in time. At the same time, referendums are sometime constitutive of the self-determination of a people. More specifically, a referendum solidifies a certain bounding of a demos by legitimising a certain demarcation of who are eligible to take part in decision-making. But simultaneously the referendum creates an action space for the people by offering new opportunities in political economy and sometimes foreign policy but also delimiting what kind of affairs are within the bounds of this particular people’s decision-making. This article charts the consecution of referendums – actual and imagined – with a bearing on the (proto-)constitutional expansion and action space of the Greenlandic demos to tease out the empirical dynamics linking referendums at different scales of polity over time. As the article discusses relations within the Kingdom of Denmark and between referendums on European integration (in both Greenland and Denmark proper), Greenlandic decolonisation and expanding autonomy and a hypothetical future version of independence, it sheds new light on the bounded demos problematique in relation to multilevel integration/disintegration dynamics mediated by referendums. In sum, the article analyses how decisions made in one referendum by a demos bounded in one way have bearings on how other demoi are bounded in later referendums, and why this matters to the resulting action spaces for the people’s self-determination being (re-)shaped.

2026-01-01T00:00:00Z Szakály, Zsuzsa https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145862 2026-04-23T11:58:14Z 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: The referendum on the independence of Greenland Authors: Szakály, Zsuzsa Abstract: Greenland is the world’s largest island, yet only about 55,000 people live there due to its harsh climate. This small population forms a close-knit and largely isolated community. Though Greenland gained sudden international attention when the United States (US) expressed interest in purchasing the territory, its journey toward potential independence had long deserved notice. A Danish colony from 1721 to 1953, Greenland has gradually moved toward self-governance and is now a partially independent part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It has its own parliament and government, and in recent decades has taken steps toward full sovereignty. Since 2009, Greenland has held the right to call a referendum on independence, suggesting a clear direction of increasing autonomy. However, renewed geopolitical interest – chiefly from the US – has made the issue more complex. The article investigates Greenland’s independence movement, the role of a possible referendum, and the implications for the island’s future.

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