What is a plebiscite? This term is not typical for a popular vote held in our country. That is why it causes difficulties when it is necessary to characterize it. More familiar to us is the term "referendum." Details that this is a plebiscite, and how it relates to the referendum, will be described in this review.
Dictionary Interpretation
Figuring out the meaning of the word "plebiscite", it would be advisable to refer to the wording given in the dictionary. There are two interpretations.
One of them says that this is a historical term, which denotes a law adopted in ancient Rome at a meeting of plebeians, first according to the Curia, and then to the tribes. Example: “At the first stage, compliance with the plebiscite that arose at the beginning of the 5th century BC e., during the time of sharp class confrontation between plebeians and patricians, it was not mandatory for the latter, since it was not approved by the Senate. "
The second meaning is given in the dictionary marked "political." According to him, a plebiscite is a population survey that is conducted to resolve any issues of greatest importance. Example: “By definition of the outstanding scientist V.F. Kotok, a referendum can be called the approval of one or another state decision. At the same time, they resort to popular voting, which gives this decision the character of a binding and final one. ”
Synonyms and etymology
Synonyms for the word plebiscite is:
- referendum;
- poll;
- voting;
- expression of will of citizens;
- the will of the people;
- popular decision.
This term has a foreign origin, having come to us from the Latin language, where the word plebiscitum is. It consists of two parts, such as plebs and scitum. The first of them means "ordinary people", and the second - "decision, decree." Thus, literally, this token means "the decision of the people."
Plebiscite and referendum - what's the difference?
To understand this issue, first we give the wording of the meaning of the word "referendum". This is one of the forms of direct expression of the will of the people, which is expressed in the vote, which is held on the most significant issues. These issues can be either state or regional or local.
There is a certain difference between the two concepts under consideration, which lies in some legal subtleties. Meanwhile, a number of authoritative Russian lawyers are of the opinion that a plebiscite is one of the varieties of a referendum.
They are distinguished by them due to the fact that this form of expression of will is used mainly when solving territorial and other specific state issues. Whereas there is practically no difference between the terms “popular poll” and “popular vote”. Therefore, they do not see the fundamental difference between a plebiscite and a referendum.
conclusions
Based on the above definitions of a plebiscite and referendum, it can be noted that the concept of a referendum is correlated with the concepts of a nationwide poll, a nationwide discussion, and a plebiscite. All these concepts are different ways of manifesting direct democracy - both in essence and in form.
Therefore, a plebiscite and a referendum are very close concepts to each other. They have the same legal nature, they are associated with the direct expression of the will of the people. According to the procedure, they are no different from each other.
The concept of a referendum prevails in some countries. This, for example, Russia, Italy, France. Others prefer to use the term plebiscite. These include states such as Chile and Costa Rica.
Proponents of the distinction between these two concepts point to the following main difference. Issues of a foreign policy character are brought to the plebiscite, and domestic politics to the referendum.
However, according to most authors, these concepts are identical. Both of them represent an expression of direct democracy - an appeal to voters for the final resolution of various legislative or constitutional issues. Such an appeal may be initiated by the parliament, the head of state in resolving issues of a national nature, or by local authorities in resolving local issues.