Luca Verzichelli Master GIRP, EM-TAM Academic year 2017-2018 European Democratic Governance and the Elites Elites, Leaders and the Future of Democracy? Luca Verzichelli Master GIRP, EM-TAM Academic year 2017-2018

From the Third wave to the democratic recession? Whatever we want to «count» democracies, the increasing trend seems to be interrupted A number of «democratic breakdowns» after 2000 and a decreasing trend after 2005

The role of Elites in enforcing democratic governance The role of Elites in enforcing democratic governance. A changing perspective From «ruling class» to «greedy hands»: paradoxical accumulation of power in the age of a reputational gap Use of personal power and «patronage» also at the supranational level Increase of corruption and decrease of transparency in many of the democratic regimes

Civil liberties and Rule of Law in Africa African regimes provide an illustrative example: corruption and rule of law indicators decline much more evidently than other markers of democratic failure The decrease of Rule of Law also in other areas of the democratic sphere The problem of the lack of elite responsibility is particularly evident in the European scenario as well (Diamond)

Transparency and rule of law the problem of contemporary democracy Rule of Law and the problem of elite irresponsibility Recent relevant examples from the «European Side» Hungary Turkey

Plattner (2015), Levitsky & Way (2015) Three sources of doubt about democracy today (Plattner 2015) 1) the growing sense that the advanced democracies are in trouble in terms of their economic and political performance; 2) the new self-confidence and seeming vitality of some authoritarian countries; 3) The shifting geopolitical balance between the democracies and their rivals. Several suggestions and indicators The reconsolidation of non democratic cultures The insurgence of predatory states Democratic meltdown in many pluralistic regimes Failure of the process of democratization Concern but no obsession: a myth of democratic recession (Levitsky and Way 2015) No strong quantitative evidence of democratic failure Grey areas more than an anti-democratic backlash Democratic resilience in the face of a darkening geopolitical landscape

Open questions Elite settlement seems to be still the main instrument of democratic enforcement … …. at the same time, elites are the problem … A cultural problem? Putnam’s book Bowling alone on the poverty of US leading elites. What political parties can do to produce more responsive elites? What institutions can do?