The Crisis in Political Representation

Abstract

In order to evaluate how democracy is developing in Europe today, the extent of the current crisis itself needs to be measured and in particular the critical condition of representative democracy. We will compare the current crisis with similar situations in the past where representative democracy has been under attack before moving on to identify the causes of the present crisis. Finally, we will seek to present a true picture of emerging democratic practices and suggest a number of measures or approaches that might contribute to a revival in democratic participation.¹