What’s in a Name? A Government Loses a National Referendum Over an Adjective

It’s heartbreaking: Another European country turns to that nefarious destroyer of democracy, the popular referendum; another turbulent campaign of lies results; and much-needed integration is stymied in a troubled part of southeastern Europe.

This time the referendum measure is not even about any political substance or military conflict. It’s about a harmless one-word linguistic emendation that could resolve 27 years of bitter diplomatic dispute. All the little landlocked country involved had t...