Is democracy in crisis?
Political impotence, lack of confidence of the citizens towards the ruling class ..., democracy is not doing well. How can this apathy be explained? And above all, can we remedy this?
The rights of the individual rather than collective control
This, in any case, is the conviction that animates Marcel Gauchet. "The fact that democracy no longer has declared enemies does not prevent it from being worked by an intimate adversity, which is unaware of itself, but which is none the less formidable in its effects" . According to him, democracies are experiencing, for the second time in their history, a crisis of growth. The first was after the First World War. Universal suffrage saw the establishment of disappointing parliamentary regimes, while society was torn by the antagonism between social classes.The consequence of this crisis is well known: the advent of totalitarianism in the 1930s. But after 1945 liberal democracies, through profound political, administrative and social reforms, were able to overcome the crisis.
In spite of similarities, the democracy of today is mainly due to the deepening of liberalism, which is expressed by mass individualism and the triumph of human rights. Henceforth the sovereignty of the individual has supplanted the sovereignty of the people. There is a recess and even a "soft self-destruction" of democracy. Its universalism leads it to want to dissociate itself from any historical or political framework and makes it lose its meaning. "It has attacked the principle of power in general and everywhere. It has universally undermined the basis of collective authority in the name of freedom. (...) It has brought to the forefront the exercise of individual rights, to the point of confusing the idea of democracy with it and of forgetting the requirement of collective control that it entails . "Disenchantment of the World (2002), this crisis of democracy corresponds to an acceleration of the process of exit from religion.
Finally, for Gauchet, who here extends his analyzes of the Disenchantment of the World(2002), this crisis of democracy corresponds to an acceleration of the process of leaving religion.
Finally, for Gauchet, who here extends his analyzes of the Disenchantment of the World(2002), this crisis of democracy corresponds to an acceleration of the process of leaving religion.
A democracy of defiance
Pierre Rosanvallon's statement in La Contre-démocratie (2006), if it partially overlaps that of M. Gauchet, is probably less sombre. First, because it recalls that democracy always appeared at first as a problem, as a reality that was not fulfilled. Secondly, because he aggressively refuses the eternal refrain on the disaffection of citizens. Petitions, strikes, demonstrations, activism on the ground show that there is implication and that one can not speak of withdrawal on the private sphere and political apathy. It would be less of a decline than of a change in citizenship, which is organized around a principle of defiance.Democracy, says P. Rosanvallon, is not limited to its electoral dimension. Mistrust can be truly democratic by demonstrating the demands of citizens on power. Still, today, there is a flurry of distrust that risks degenerating into a populism devaluing the political sphere. The affairs of the city are not less interesting to citizens, but they often do not have a political apprehension of the problems. How to find more confidence?
Local dimension and deliberation
"Participatory democracy", which brings together new forms of citizen involvement in decisions such as neighborhood councils, is one of the important developments in democracy, although it refers to very different practices. It responds to a strong social demand, but if it is insufficient to renew democracy on its own, it is often characterized by its local dimension and often appears in a depoliticized form. Deliberation, which is the other important axis of renewal of democracy, is equally inadequate for P. Rosanvallon.There is no silver bullet, but a set of reforms to be implemented to restore the confidence of citizens and also an effort to argue and give greater clarity to political action. Double talk ? The conclusion may appear disappointing to the already unconfident citizen. That of Mr. Gauchet risks not arousing much more enthusiasm: "In the short term, in all probability, at this stage, the crisis can only get worse. But he does not leave us without hope. "It does not seem unreasonable to me to believe that the democracy of the 2100s could be a substantially improved democracy compared to the one we know." Difficult on these bases to" re-enchant "democracy ...
Catherine Halpern
Published on 13/03/2008
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