TOP STORIES / WORLD / EUROPE

S O CIET Y

British Professor: We Are Living in a

"Postdemocracy"
As Warwick University Professor Colin Crouch's book "Postdemocracy" appears on
shelves in Germany, DW-WORLD.DE asked him how his theory can shed light on today's
global political events.

DW-WORLD.DE: Governments seem to work for the

benefit of multinational companies. PR experts rule the
level and content of the public debate. Parliaments have
been invaded by lobbies. Doesn't all that constitute, at
least technically speaking, the end of democracy as we
know it?

Colin Crouch teaches Governance

Colin Crouch: Governments in countries where democratic
and Public Management at the institutions are strong cannot work solely for multinational
University of Warwick corporations and PR experts cannot control all debate. Where
governments have to face seriously contested elections, it is not
possible to ignore the needs of ordinary people. Indeed, one reason why business has such political
power is that governments depend on economic success to satisfy people's needs, and business
seems to hold the answers to that success. PR experts cannot completely control debate where civil
society outside the official political world is strong and vigorous. My book "Postdemocracy" is
concerned with societies where democratic institutions are strong, and is about problems that occur
for democracy within and despite that strength. The same forces that you mention -- MNCs, clever
PR -- in a polity where democracy is young, with shallow root, would be far more damaging.

In the “Golden Age” of ancient Greece, Pericles promoted democracy while in the
country slavery prevailed. Since then, democracy has always been accompanied by
contradiction. In that sense, wouldn't all the factors you describe as “postdemocratic”
really be a part of the natural evolution of democracy?

The meaning of democracy depends on the definition of the "demos," the people. Until the early
20th century, women were routinely excluded from the "demos" in societies which otherwise saw
themselves as democratic. Today we exclude people below a certain age, foreigners living in the
country, and sometimes (as in the USA) people with certain criminal records. Debates about the
inclusiveness of democracy are different from those about the quality of democracy -- and it is the
latter with which I am concerned.

Some of the symptoms described in your book are present

in Latin America without a previous truly consolidated,
democratic phase in the region. There has been no
“parabolic” democratic development there and it seems,
however, that post-democracy has also arrived in most
Latin American countries. How would you explain that?

Some of the factors producing post-democracy might arrive in some

societies without strong democracy. When the existing established
democracies were acquiring their institutions such forces as global
capital and sophisticated PR did not exist. It certainly makes life
harder for young democracies -- in Latin America, Eastern and
How much does PR affect
Central Europe, parts of Asia -- that these forces are already democracy?
present. Is it being too cynical to wonder if the current enthusiasm
for promoting democracy around the world, on the part of the western powers, is partly the result of
confidence that today democracy can be effectively controlled?

You say that PR experts have taken control over the political debate, mostly during
election campaigns. Could you give an example of this in relation to the current US race
between Barack Obama and John McCain?

US electoral politics is so completely a set of media events that it is difficult to identify moments
that are not PR-controlled. One consequence of this is that journalists -- who really resent PR
control of their work -- are constantly seeking the slips of the tongue, the dirty little secrets that
escape the PR machine. One thinks of incidents like McCain forgetting how many houses he owned
(seven, in fact), and Obama's embarrassing preacher friend. But these things lead in turn to
excessive attention being paid to unimportant little incidents.

Russia recently changed its government in free elections

(at least nobody contested them loudly). But it seems that
it is the prime minister, rather than the president, who
rules the country. The Caucasus crisis destabilized the
region and also had consequences for EU policy. Do you
see a “postdemocratic” background in this sequence of
events involving Russia?
"Russia is a case of very, very
imperfect democracy"
Russia is a case of very, very imperfect democracy, not of
post-democracy. There has never been a period of democratic
strength in all Russian history.

What about the apparent tolerance of the European Union towards the increasingly
authoritarian regime in Russia? Are there also "postdemocratic" elements?

Relations between countries rarely have a moral basis. They are rooted in strategic and economic
interests. This has always been true and is not really a part of post-democracy.

Your book gives the strong general impression that current democracy is not in a good
shape, and not only in poorer countries, but also in developed ones. In this regard, my
last question is rather simple: Does democracy have a future?

The purpose of writing a dystopia is to warn of coming dangers so that people might take action to
avoid what is coming. To do that one has to be an optimist. But I see hope, not so much in a
renewal of electoral democracy and political parties, but in the growth of a strong civil society --
with alert citizens and social movements who challenge the misuse of political and economic power
in a whole range of ways. But these can never replace formal democracy, weakened though it may
become by what I see as post-democratic forces.

Date 13.09.2008

Author Interview: Enrique López Magallón (ah)

Share Send google+ more

Print print this page

D W.D E

Sociologist: Most Russians Don't Know What Democracy Is

Why can there be virtually no surprises in the upcoming Russian elections? DW-WORLD.DE spoke to Russian
sociologist Lev Gudkov about voters, their relationship to the state and their views of the political system.
(01.12.2007)

Greens Politician: Democracy Needs More Heart and Soul

Democracy has to be defended on a daily basis, but political parties aren't the only ones responsible: Citizens also
have to do their part, writes Omid Nouripour in his guest commentary for DW-WORLD.DE. (14.09.2007)

Opinion: United Nations of Democracies and Dictatorships?

The increasing role of non-democracies in key UN bodies lead observers to wonder how the UN can live up to its
ideals. The US and the EU should turn to the old-fashioned tools of diplomacy, argues Thorsten Benner.
(17.05.2007)

M O R E ART IC L ES

Can Greece still be saved? Amnesty criticizes EU Eastern Europe lacks

23.07.2012 refugee policy 21.07.2012 'culture of political
Greece's reform process is Lampedusa's overcrowded discussion' 21.07.2012
showing clear signs of refugee camps made In recent months,
lagging as the government
requests more time to meet
bailout conditions.
International lenders are
travelling to Greece this week
for more talks and
inspections.
headlines last year. Those
facilities may have mostly
emptied since, but Amnesty
International says the EU's
refugee policy still has major
faults.
controversial measures by
several of the EU's eastern
members have set off the
European Commission's
warning alarm. Experts
believe a lack of democratic
experience is to blame.