ABSTRACT

In Western democratic societies, decisions to allocate public funding towards a sports stadium or event are generally made via representative democracy by elected policymakers. Increasingly, referendums are occurring to facilitate direct democracy. In this study, we examine insider perspectives of a potential Commonwealth Games bid referendum in New Zealand. The two research questions are: (1) To what extent do insiders support the initiation of a referendum to host a major sport event? and (2) What is the underlying rationale for that support or lack thereof? Interviews with 17 major event insiders (i.e., those with experience and/or decision-making authority) indicated unanimous opposition to the referendum. Several themes emerged related to their lack of support, including civic paternalism, challenges of providing voters with sufficient information to make informed votes and negative perceptions of past referendums. The results suggest the rationale for avoiding referendums extends beyond the expected apprehensiveness that voters will reject a proposal to host a major sporting event.

摘要

In Western democratic societies, decisions to allocate public funding towards a sports stadium or event are generally made via representative democracy by elected policymakers. 越来越多的公民投票正在发生以促进直接民主。在这项研究中，我们研究了新西兰可能举行的英联邦运动会申办公投的内部人士观点。两个研究问题是：（1）内部人士在多大程度上支持发起全民公投以举办大型体育赛事？(2) 支持或缺乏支持的基本原理是什么？对 17 位重大事件内部人士（即具有经验和/或决策权的人士）的采访​​表明，一致反对公投。出现了几个与他们缺乏支持有关的主题，包括公民家长作风、向选民提供足够信息以进行知情投票和对过去公投的负面看法的挑战。结果表明，避免公投的理由超出了预期的担忧，即选民会拒绝举办大型体育赛事的提议。