本文嘗試釐清公民投票在民主國家中扮演的角色，以及對於政治體系與政黨體系的可能影響。雖然公民投票可能會給政治及政黨體系帶來不確定性，但是分析過去美國及瑞士的公投經驗發現，公民投票影響政治體系的程度不大。而且實証資料也顯示，實行公民投票多年的瑞士人民反而對政治體系有較高的信任感。這個結果證實，公民投票有可能內化成政府及政黨體系的一部份，不見得會完全取代代議政治。而在台灣，公民投票可能成為促使政府回應民意的機制。

It is an explorary analysis of the role that referendums play on the operations of democracies and the extent to which they affect political systems and party systems. Based on the examples of American and European referendums, it is found that the effect of referendums on party systems is very limited. The empirical data analysis of World Value Survey also suggests that people in Switzerland show strong confidence on their political system but not on their party systems, and that Americans who have only local-level referendums have moderate confidence on their political and party systems. In Taiwan, however, people trust parties instead of the government, which implies that the referendum may turn to be a new mechanism that urges the government to be more responsive.