That's a high-risk approach, because big referendums have a lot of downsides. They are expensive, polarizing and put a lot of responsibility on the average citi

That's a high-risk approach, because big referendums have a lot of downsides. They are expensive, polarizing and put a lot of responsibility on the average citizen, who is expected to both understand and balance correctly the tradeoffs on the table. In some societies that is really too much to ask, but I don't know Iceland well enough. Experiments are important too, though. I would be watching really closely what happens if the there is a real tilt towards the Pirates.