Comparative Politics
V. Changes and challenges
to representative democracy
Leadership, Audience democracy,
presidentialization
Luca Verzichelli / Filippo Tronconi
Comparative Politics
Academic year 2014-2015
A Pyrros’ victory for the democratic model?
Heritage of XX century and new challenges
• After 1975: global challenges and increase of
“ungovernable issues” for traditional
democracies
• Increase of the grey area of “quasi-democratic
regimes”. Other democracies in permanent
transitions without consolidation
• Complexity of policy making
• Crisis of mass party organizations
• Exponential increase of political mistrust
Approaches to the question of
democratic transformation
• New elitist approach
(Sartori, the theory of democracy revisited, 1987)
• Focus on different democratic dynamics
(Huntington, the Third wave, 1991 vs. Przeworski and others)
• Focus on policy outcomes and transformation of
policy communities
(different approaches)
• Cultural and historical path dependencies
(Putnam, making democracy works, 1993, Bowling alone, 2000)
• Actor-centred institutionalism
• Rational choice institutionalism
Persistent emphasis on elites’ role …
… but with some variations
Elites should rule. But they are differently
responsible and differently stratifies (“experts”,
networks, interactions …).
Citizens choose between elite proposals but by
means of different democratic tools.
Result should be an efficient government but with
new system of control over elite’s action.
Politics is still too (or even more) complex for
average citizens. But we should avoid apathy
Redefining all the representative institutions?
• Reintroducing the argument of the decline of
representative institutions (quest for participatoy
democracy and deliberative democracy)
• Decline of party-democracy and emphasis on
public opinion (Manin)
• Counter-democracy and new social pluralism
(Rosanvallon)
• Still a relevant role of representative institution
but challenges from social complexity,
immigration, etc.
Presidentialization of parliamentary democracy
An old story?
• Prime ministers with stable majorities tent to act like
presidents with reduced accountability to
parliamentary members
• They increasingly used media to keep the “campaign
spirit” and prolong the honey moon with the public
opinion
• They always know that there won’t be a “no
confidence” vote against them if they keep given
conditions under control
• Personality use to matter more than policy, party (or
even ideology) since decades
Leader democracy (Koroseny 2005)
Audience democracy
Manin, principles of representative government 1996
• Metamorphoses and not crisis of
parliamentary democracy
• Crucial aspect: “maturity” of public opinion
• Modernization and its effect on the delegation
chain
• Divide between politics perceived as “leader
issues” and politics to be shared with ordinary
people
Variations in representative government (Manin)
parliamentarism
Party democracy
Audience democracy
Election of rep.
Personal trust
Local links
notable
Party loyalty
Personal mediated trust
Class membership Electoral market
activists
Media expert
Partial
autonomy of
rep.
Free expression
Party leaders
guide
Freedom of
public
Voice of the people
at the gate of
parliament
Opposed views
public opinion and
within parliament electoral views do not
coincide
Opinion polls
Trial by
discussion
parliament
Party negotiation
corporativism
Images
Negotiation between
government and
interest groups
Debate in the media
Causes of presidentialization
(Poguntke and Webb 2005)
• Internationalization of politics
• Growth of the State (but not of State’s
resources)
• Changing structure of mass communication
• Erosion of (some) traditional cleavage politics