Introduction

Democracy is in crisis today, as many authoritative scholars remark. I, too, believe that democracy is now going through serious difficulties. However, I also believe that we can hardly hope to understand the nature of the crisis or come up with appropriate solutions unless we recognize that this form of government has, by its very nature, always been subject to crisis. It was in the direct democracy of the ancients, and it is in the representative democracy of modern times, both in the parliamentary democracy of notables with restricted suffrage in the nineteenth century and in the democracy of the great mass parties with universal suffrage in the twentieth century. And, again, it remains the case in our contemporary democracy dominated by the media and populist leaders. A couple of words of warning before getting down to the matter at hand. First, I use the term “crisis” inexactly, as it is widely used in journalism and even in academia—as a synonym for difficulties, frictions and the risk that democracy may turn into a political system that is no longer democratic. Secondly, my reference is to the present state of the democracies of the advanced capitalistic countries. Analysis of the state of democracy worldwide over the long period should be quite a different and more complex matter.

Back to Basics

The two basic reasons for crisis have been recognized since ancient times, lying in both participation in the democratic process—the “input” of democracy, as it were—and the results of that process, the quality of governments, the “output.” Democracy has always been on the verge of crisis because its ideal of equality—equal political influence of all citizens in the government of the political community they belong to—has always been belied by reality. Indeed, it seems impossible for it to be fully implemented in societies—egalitarian as they may be—characterized by pronounced differences in wealth, prestige and power. Such differences inevitably translate into differences in political influence. And crisis is always lurking since it is, indeed, rare to come anywhere even near the ideal of good government—government seen by the vast majority of citizens as a bringer of peace and general well-being, as depicted in Ambrogio Lorenzetti's superb fresco in Siena's city hall.