ABSTRACT
The criticisms addressed to the device are of various kinds. But the main criticism addressed to the referendum concerns its strict democratic potential. The classical argument of the inability of ordinary citizens to legislate, more often associated with a criticism of the content of popular decisions, is applied here to the democratic problematic. In many respects, the challenge today is the following: retake the referendum from the hands of populists, showing that it is possible to make of it a use, if not completely democratic, at least 'democratically correct'. Differently, when the status quo is a viable option and the referendum initiative is in the hands of the government, it tends to impose itself, with the strength of fact, as the 'natural' alternative to the referendum proposal. The approximate or distorted character of the popular will expressed through the referendum may finally come from the fact that it must be answered with a single vote to several questions.
