REFERENDUM. – The r. belongs among the institutions of direct democracy. What they have in common is the personal participation, rather than participation through representatives (the so-called « indirect or representative democracy »), of those entitled to vote in the formation of a legally significant decision. Its political basis is found in contractualist doctrines, according to which, strictly speaking, the direct expression of the popular will ought to be the rule, and the representative form the exception. If the opposite is instead what comes about, this is due to insurmountable practical necessities. Institutions of direct democracy are in fact seldom adopted, except, and in limited forms, in certain countries where they have a particular tradition, such as Switzerland and the United States of America; where they are adopted in the abstract, they nevertheless remain unapplied, as in the U.S.S.R.
There are, however, events and cases in which it appears right and appropriate that there should be an explicit expression of the will of the people; whether or not the people is then an organ of the State is a debated and controversial question, connected with the other question of whether or not it is an organ in the exercise of the electoral function.
In an excessively broad sense, the r. could include all institutions of direct democracy, but within these it is customary to distinguish, in addition to the debated direct election of the Head of State, the plebiscite, the veto, the revocation of the mandate (individual or through the early dissolution of the Chambers), legislative initiative, and the r. in the strict sense (for the adoption or rejection of a law or measure). The distinctions are not always clear-cut, especially between plebiscite and r.; indeed, the changing and complex legislative provisions do not always fit precisely into the categories outlined in the abstract. In general, it may be said that the plebiscite is introduced from time to time in extraordinary circumstances, whereas the r. may be established and regulated in the ordinary manner; the former may be applied in international law, as well as in domestic (constitutional) law, while the latter applies only in domestic law (constitutional and administrative); the former (at least according to one authoritative opinion) concerns the approval or disapproval of a fact or event affecting the formation or structure of the State or its government, while the latter concerns a normative or otherwise juridical act.
In Italy, plebiscites were held for the annexation of various territories to the Kingdom of Sardinia, first, and subsequently to the Italian Kingdom; and an r. was held on 2 June 1946 to choose the institutional form (monarchical or republican).
Certain provisions of the new Constitution envisage the r. in several cases, adopting it far more broadly than the constitutional charters of other countries, thereby accentuating its character as a mixed democracy, that is, both direct and representative. It is nevertheless premature to determine what effective application it will have, since the laws necessary to make its application possible have not yet been enacted.