On June 27, 2015, Greek Prime Minister Alexis
Tsipras announced a referendum on whether Greece should accept additional austerity
in the form of tax increases and pension cuts as demanded by the state’s
creditors. Putting the ultimatum from lenders to a popular vote translates into
political theory as governmental sovereignty—the portion retained by the E.U.
state—voluntarily submitting to the popular sovereign, which is the more
fundamental sovereignty in any democracy. “Our responsibility is for the future
of our country. This responsibility obliges us to respond to the ultimatum
through the sovereign will of the Greek people,” Tsipras said in a televised
address.[1] More abstractly, deferring to the people
on a major policy question is the responsibility, or duty, of any
democratically-elected government. Sadly, few heads of government and
legislatures even acknowledge this duty, let alone act on it. In this essay, I
address the Greek case as a way of illustrating a few of the drawbacks of
appealing to popular sovereignty through a referendum, while still holding that
the duty itself is valid. I contend in particular that Tsipras’s Greek
opponents, E.U. officials, and the state’s lenders (through government
officials in other E.U. states) intentionally sought quite disrespectfully to manipulate
Greece’s popular sovereign by distorting the question on the referendum to get
a “yes,” or “oxi” result. That is, federal and state officials in the E.U.
sought to scare and confuse the popular sovereign of one state—bullying, in
effect, the basis of democracy itself for power and money.
Greece's PM Tsipras looking rather fatigued after meetings on the bailout. (John Thys AFP/Getty)
1. Lefteris
Papadimas and Renee Maltezou, “Greece’s
PM Tsipras Calls Referendum on Bailout Deal,” The Huffington Post, June 26,
2015.
