California's meltdown has been so all-consuming that it's been awhile since this blog checked in on direct democratic goings-on overseas. So here goes.

IRISH VIEWS SHIFT ON LISBON: The Irish voted down the Lisbon Treaty -- the de facto new constitution for the European Union last year. Now a new poll -- in advance of a likely fall vote on the treaty -- shows growing support in Ireland for the treaty. What's changed? The country's once-strong economy has collapsed.

TAIWANESE REFERENDUM ON CHINA TRADE PACT: The pro-independence opposition in Taiwan announced it would collect signatures for a referendum on a new trade pact signed by the government with China.

NIGER PLEBISCITE: The leader of that African country, a producer of uranium, has dismissed the Parliament and is organizing a referendum on whether to change the constitution to permit him to serve a third term. 

News organizations around the world -- Reuters, the BBC, the Wall Street Journal -- are reporting that Madagascar's president, who is under pressure to step down, has called for "a referendum."

That's the wrong word. 

A referendum is a vote on a legislative action--a law or constitutional amendment. It has true legal force. And referenda occur under constitutional structures (Most of the world's countries and a slim majority of US states have some legal provision for a referendum). In a referendum, voters can decide to block a law or amendment.

What the Madagascar president has called for is an up or down vote on whether he should remain in office. The president himself is putting a vote on the ballot. It's not done through the legislature. And such a vote may not have legal force. 

Such a vote -- a measure put directly on the ballot by an executive -- is properly called a plebiscite.And that's what responsible news organizations should call what's going on in Madagascar.

In the most closely watched referendum in the world this month, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez won a plebiscite he sponsored to eliminate term limits, with 54 percent of the vote. This means he can run again for the presidency in 2012 -- and perhaps hold the office for the rest of his life. The opposition said it would not contest the results.

Venezuealan president Hugo Chavez has employed direct democracy of a fashion, backing a series of plebiscites to enhance his own power. (His defenders point out that he has allowed himself to lose one of these plebiscites--so there). The latest referendum, scheduled for next month, would lift term limits and allow him to run for re-election. But it's not going well. Chavez, without evidence, is accusing President-Elect Obama of interfering in the vote. The Venezuelan president also wants tear gas used on his opponents, according to this Reuters story.