The CPS  would like to organize one or two panels at the IPSA Congress in Istanbul on the referendum as a crisis-solving device. Everybody who is interested to participate is invited to submit a short written proposal within September 25th (laurence.morel@eui.eu).

Description of the call:
'We see the referendum as a continuation of the negotiations by other means', said Greek Minister George Katrougalos, alluding to Clausewitz famous definition of war. The recent Greek referendum on the debt resolution plan proposed by European bodies and the IMF has revived the much debated issue of the potential impact of referendums on crisis resolution. Admittedly, referendums have often be called in the last decades, especially in Western Europe, to solve problems of internal party or coalition crisis - often on EU issues. But one has probably to come back to Gaullist referendums, or to the referendum on Monarchy in post-war Belgium, to find in Europe a use of the device with such a clear function to unblock a serious crisis at national and international level.
 
This panel is seeking theoretical and empirical papers about the crisis-solving - or crisis-worsening - potential of referendums, the factors on which it depends, and the ex-ante or ex-post legitimacy of such referendums even when they do not fully meet the requirements of democracy. Beyond the Greek case, case-studies refering to other referendums held in all parts of the world in a context of severe crisis will be very appreciated.