The strength of this book is its nuanced examination of the promotion, reception, and use of political referenda to show how, though once skeptically viewed, they became commonly accepted as a part of British democratic practice.
Lucy Atkinson is a Senior Policy Adviser at HM Government. She previously worked as Research Fellow at The Constitution Society, Research Assistant at the Centre for Social Justice, Development Officer at Renaissance Foundation, and Researcher at Faiths Forum for London.
Andrew Blick is Reader in Politics and Contemporary History and Director of the Centre for British Politics and Government, at King's College London. He has worked in Parliament and at No.10, Downing Street. In 2019, the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust and Open Society Foundations funded him in devising a 'Citizens' Convention on UK Democracy'. His publications include Electrified Democracy (CUP, 2019), Stretching the Constitution
(Bloomsbury/Hart, 2019), and Butler's British Political Facts (co-edited with R. Mortimer, Palgrave, 2018).
Matt Qvortrup is Professor of Political Science and International Relations, Coventry University. Having received Oxford University Press' Law Prize 2012 for his research on referendums, he was awarded the BJPIR Prize by the Political Studies Association in 2013. Described by the BBC as 'the world's leading expert on referendums', Professor Qvortrup is editor of The European Political Science Review.