Yes/No: referenda and mandates

This essay examines recent failed progressive referenda in Australia (2023 Indigenous Voice to Parliament) and Chile (2022 constitutional reform) to theorize "plebiscitary democracy" as a political technology that paradoxically undermines democratic process. Despite strong initial support, both Indigenous rights proposals were decisively rejected (60% and 62% respectively), revealing how referenda function not as exercises in popular will but as tactical instruments for splitting populations. Drawing on Baudrillard, Schmitt, and neoliberal theorists like Buchanan, the authors argue that plebiscites privilege immediacy over deliberation, reducing complex political questions to binary choices while enabling right-wing campaigns to mobilize fear and resentment more effectively than progressive forces can build support. The essay traces how neoliberal strategy has weaponized "direct democracy" to constrain government action while appearing democratically legitimate, producing mandates that reflect not consensus but engineered consent—ultimately serving as alibis for the absence of genuine politics rather than expressions of collective self-determination.