Editing Referendum (section)

===Criticism of populist aspect===
[[File:Odessa Russian Sring 20140330 07.JPG|thumb|Pro-Russian protesters in [[Odesa]], Ukraine, demanding a referendum, March 30, 2014]]
[[File:20150703 Greek Referendum Demonstration for NO syntagma square Athens Greece.jpg|thumb| [[2015 Greek bailout referendum]] Demonstration for "NO" vote, [[Syntagma Square]], [[Athens]], Greece ]]

In Political Governance states that voters in a referendum are more likely to be driven by transient whims than by careful deliberation, or that they are not sufficiently informed to make decisions on complicated or technical issues.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kzV4V59udu8C | isbn=9788182053175 | title=Political Governance: Political theory | year=2005 | publisher=Gyan Publishing House | access-date=2023-03-19 | archive-date=2023-11-06 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231106011659/https://books.google.com/books?id=kzV4V59udu8C | url-status=live }}</ref> Also, voters might be swayed by [[propaganda]], strong personalities, intimidation, and expensive advertising campaigns. [[James Madison]] argued that direct democracy is the "[[tyranny of the majority]]".

Some opposition to the referendum has arisen from its use by dictators such as [[Adolf Hitler]] and [[Benito Mussolini]] who, it is argued,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Qvortrup|first1=Matt |title=Direct Democracy: A Comparative Study of the Theory and Practice of Government by the People|isbn=978-0-7190-8206-1|date=2013|publisher=Manchester University Press|location=Manchester}}</ref> used the plebiscite to disguise oppressive policies as [[populism]]. Dictators may also make use of referendums as well as [[show elections]] to further legitimize their authority such as [[António de Oliveira Salazar]] in [[1933 Portuguese constitutional referendum|1933]]; Benito Mussolini in [[1934 Italian general election|1934]]; Adolf Hitler in [[1934 German referendum|1934]], [[1936 German election and referendum|1936]]; [[Francisco Franco]] in [[1947 Spanish law of succession referendum|1947]]; [[Park Chung Hee]] in [[1972 South Korean constitutional referendum|1972]]; and [[Ferdinand Marcos]] in [[1973 Philippine constitutional plebiscite|1973]]. Hitler's use of plebiscites is argued{{by whom|date=March 2016}} as the reason why, since [[World War II]], there has been no provision in [[Germany]] for the holding of referendums at the federal level.

In recent years, referendums have been used strategically by several European governments trying to pursue political and electoral goals.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.jcer.net/index.php/jcer/article/view/836/781|first1=Cecilia Emma|last1=Sottilotta|date=2017|title=The Strategic Use of Government-Sponsored Referendums in Contemporary Europe: Issues and Implications|journal=Journal of Contemporary European Research|volume=13|issue=4|pages=1361–1376|doi=10.30950/jcer.v13i4.836|s2cid=158825358|doi-access=free|access-date=2017-12-16|archive-date=2017-12-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171217014256/https://www.jcer.net/index.php/jcer/article/view/836/781|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1995, [[John Bruton]] considered that {{blockquote|All governments are unpopular. Given the chance, people would vote against them in a referendum. Therefore avoid referendums. Therefore don't raise questions which require them, such as the big versus the little states.<ref>{{Cite news|url = https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/dec/31/referendums-are-a-bad-idea-irish-leader-told-eu-in-1995|title = Referendums are a bad idea, Irish leader told EU in 1995|newspaper = The Guardian|date = 2019-12-31|last1 = Bowcott|first1 = Owen|last2 = Davies|first2 = Caroline|access-date = 2019-12-31|archive-date = 2019-12-31|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191231110719/https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/dec/31/referendums-are-a-bad-idea-irish-leader-told-eu-in-1995|url-status = live}}</ref>}}