1. 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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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)

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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?