Challenges to Liberal Democracy

Author(s):  
William A. Galston

This introductory chapter discusses the challenges to liberal democracy, arguing that an explanation that places economics at the base and treats other issues as derivative distorts a more complex reality. Alongside economic difficulties, other problems weakened the foundation of popular support for established institutions since the Great Recession in 2007. Liberal democracy has two characteristic deformations. Elitists claim that they best understand the means to the public's ends and should be freed from the inconvenient necessity of popular consent. The result has been liberal democracy's other deformation: the rise of populist movements—and in several cases governments—across the West.

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 560-570
Author(s):  
Gerardo del Cerro Santamaría

This article discusses the consequences of the financial crisis that started in 2008 in the West, and particularly in the United States, as a manifestation of neoliberal capitalism’s multiple failures. In doing so, it focuses on the scholarly contributions of Manuel Castells and his colleagues in two important books: Aftermath: The Cultures of the Economic Crisis (2012) and Another Economy is Possible (2017). Both books are collective works led and edited by Castells. Also included in the review is a third book by Castells, Rupture: The Crisis of Liberal Democracy (2018), which can be read as a statement on some of the political consequences of the 2008 financial crisis and a report on the current crisis of liberal democracy. The contention is that Castells et al. make an important contribution to the socio-economic literature on the financial crisis, its consequences, and the interpretation of the societal changes that ensued and are key to understand our contemporary world. Such contribution, as observed in the three books under review, can be summarized as follows: (1) Castells and colleagues provide cases and examples from around the world in a broad comparative fashion, thus expanding our understanding of a crisis that was essentially a crisis of the West with ramifications in other countries but never a truly global crisis. (2) The approach of Castells and his colleagues is interdisciplinary and goes beyond purely economic arguments to include sociological, political and cultural ideas and insights that help us understand the complexity of the historical period under analysis; readers develop an awareness of the systemic character of the crisis, where all events were closely interrelated; in particular, both micro and macro processes leading to the crisis converged into a mutually dialectical and reinforcing relationship that warrants the contention by the authors that ‘economies’ are ‘cultures.’ (3) The authors in both Aftermath and Another Economy is Possible focus on the (long) aftermath of the crisis, which is still ongoing as of September 2019 around the world; in fact, one of Castells’ main points is that the financial crisis brought about irreversible societal change, ongoing and clearly visible today, as it triggered a significant restructuring of global informational capitalism. (4) The authors provide a focus on one of the reactive consequences of the crisis: alternative economic practices developing in the aftermath of the crisis, under the premise that we might be witnessing the rise of a new economic model based on new, alternative values. (5) Castells provides a discussion (in Rupture) of aspects of the contemporary political landscape a decade after the outset of the financial crisis and the Great Recession.


Author(s):  
William A. Galston

The Great Recession, institutional dysfunction, a growing divide between urban and rural prospects, and failed efforts to effectively address immigration have paved the way for a populist backlash that disrupts the postwar bargain between political elites and citizens. Whether today's populism represents a corrective to unfair and obsolete policies or a threat to liberal democracy itself remains up for debate. Yet this much is clear: these challenges indict the triumphalism that accompanied liberal democratic consolidation after the collapse of the Soviet Union. To respond to today's crisis, good leaders must strive for inclusive economic growth while addressing fraught social and cultural issues, including demographic anxiety, with frank attention. Although reforms may stem the populist tide, liberal democratic life will always leave some citizens unsatisfied. This is a permanent source of vulnerability, but liberal democracy will endure so long as citizens believe it is worth fighting for.


Author(s):  
William A. Galston

This chapter discusses the gradual erosion of democracy in world politics, beginning with the rise of the welfare state and the second political convergence of the postwar era—conservative retrenchment. Confronted with resurgent conservatism, reform-minded leaders worked to renovate left-leaning parties and brought the next convergence of Western politics, the Third Way. For some years, international Third Way forces had the wind in their sails, however, the Great Recession ended this era. Across the West, governments struggled to stave off financial collapse, halt the downward slide of output and employment, and restart economic growth. Meanwhile, a populist surge threatens the assumptions and achievements of mainstream politicians and policymakers from the center left to the center-right.


2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 539-576 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jo Ritzen ◽  
Caroline Wehner ◽  
Klaus F. Zimmermann

Abstract Before the Great Recession, the rising income inequality within the “old” European Union has been suggested as an important driver of the increase in Euroskepticism. We revisit this finding for the 27 EU member states from 2006 to 2011, introducing individual negative financial expectations as a further driving factor. We also distinguish between Western and Eastern European countries. In the period of Eastern EU enlargement after 2005, Euroskepticism increased by one third while income inequality on average remained stable. Negative financial expectations are positively related to Euroskepticism in the West and non-significantly negatively related in the East. This suggests that Westerners interpret European integration as a threat, while Easterners view it as a chance. In addition, income inequality lost its role in “old” Europe. An increase of one Gini point decreases the probability of Euroskepticism by half a percentage point in the West, while it has no impact in the East.


This introductory chapter provides an overview of youth unemployment. In countries hit hardest by the Great Recession of 2008, young people have faced some of the largest obstacles in finding stable employment, or any kind of employment. Even in countries with a better performance record of getting young people into work, there were still significant pockets of youth — categorised as not in employment, education, or training (NEETs) — who struggled to make successful and sustainable transitions into employment. This was not altogether a new feature of European labour markets, but the Great Recession exacerbated problems, and in some case reversed previous successes. The chapter then presents five distinctive characteristics of the current phase of youth unemployment relating to the consequences of increased labour market flexibility, skills mismatch, new patterns of migration and family legacies, as well as an increasing role for EU policy.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document