The history of referendums and direct democracy / Matt Qvortrup -- Types of referendums, provisions and practice at national level worldwide / Laurence Morel -- Local referendums: a comparative assessment of forms and practice / Theo Schiller -- Methodological issues: popper, paradigms and historical perspectives on referendum research: a case of pluralism / Matt Qvortrup -- Views on referendums: is there a pattern? / Palle Svensson -- Why referendums?: on appearances and absences / Dag Anckar -- Referendums and consensus democracy: empirical findings from 21 EU countries / Stefan Vospernik -- The democratic criticism of referendums: the majority and true will of the people / Laurence Morel -- The democratic potential of referendums: intrinsic and extrinsic limitations / Patrick Taillon -- Democratic credentials and deficits of referendums: a case study of the scottish independence vote / Stephan Tierney -- People concerned and people entitled to vote: the example of sovereignty referendums / Ilker Gökhan Sen -- The expression of popular will: does the wording of a referendum question matter? / François Rocher and André Lecours -- The expression of popular will: do campaigns matter and how do voters decide? / Ece Ozlem Atikcan -- The strength of popular will: legal impact, implementation and duration / Dane Waters -- Existing regulations and recommended best practices: the example of the USA / Henry S. Noyes -- Voting behaviour in direct democracy votes / Pascal Sciarini -- Picking winners. forecasting the results of eu referendums 1972-2016 / Matt Qvortrup -- The formation of opinions at referendums: the application of the screening theory model / Guy Lachapelle -- Are referendums a machinery to turn out our prejudices into rational choices: an unfortunate answer of sociophysics / Serge Galam -- How elections shape campaigning effects in direct democracy / Simon Lanz and Alessandro Nai -- Referendums, minorities and individual freedoms / Marthe Fatin-Rouge Stefanini -- Referendums on European integration: crisis-solving or crisis-inducing? / Fernando Mendez and Mario Mendez -- Do referendums make better citizens? the effects of direct democracy on political interest, civic competence and participation / Julien Talpin -- Brinkmanship and backsliding: how governments deal with referendum decisions / Gerald Schneider -- Effects of referendums on party cohesion and cleavages: empirical findings from 21 EU countries / Stefan Vospernik -- Recall referendum around the world: origins, institutional designs and current debates / Yanina Welp -- Deliberative mini-publics in democratic systems / Maija Setälä -- Nothing fails like success: teledemocracy and deliberative polling / Ted Becker -- Sortition, direct democracy and indirect democracy / Gil Delannoi and Oliver Dowlen