Direct Democratic Institutions in the Romanian and Hungarian Constitutional Tradition

Abstract

The development of a country’s instruments of direct democracy is often shaped by particular historical circumstances and political contexts, while the conditions surrounding their introduction may significantly influence the subsequent operation of the institutional framework. This study examines whether, in the constitutional systems of Romania and Hungary, the institutions of direct democracy established during, or in the immediate aftermath of, the political transition of 1989–1990, together with their later development and practical application, were influenced by factors rooted in a more distant historical past. Following an overview of the regulation and practice of referendums in Romania and Hungary, the article argues that in Romania the system of direct democratic institutions established by the 1991 Constitution did not substantially depart from an earlier tradition, developing from the 1860s onwards, that was fundamentally plebiscitary in character and thus dominated by referendums initiated “from above”. In Hungary, by contrast, there were no significant historical antecedents, and the political and legal elite had long remained cautious towards the direct exercise of popular sovereignty. The Referendum Act of 1989 opened the way for the direct exercise of democratic power by permitting “bottom-up” referendum initiatives; however, subsequent regulatory changes and developments in practice gradually curtailed these possibilities. Since 2008, Hungary’s institutions and practice of direct democracy have moved decisively in a plebiscitary direction.