Reconstructing Democracy in Times of Crisis: A Voter-Centred Perspective

Abstract

This book contains 11 reports from the Horizon 2020 research project Reconstructing Democracy in Times of Crisis: A Voter-Centred Perspective. Their aim is to illuminate the challenges facing advanced democracies from the perspective of voters as moral and political agents, who must decide whether or not to vote and on what criteria they should base their decision. Being a voter in a democracy is a paradoxical situation: collectively they will take part in deciding who governs their country and ‘speaks in their name’ but, as individuals, they have no real power at all. While the justification of democratic government rests on the authorisation provided by voters, simply as voters citizens will have little say on the electoral choices presented to them, the political programmes on offer, or the likely consequences of choosing one rather than another candidate. In short, being a voter is both morally weighty and yet its political consequences are often hard to determine and, for the most part, beyond our control. Not surprisingly, being a voter is a more complicated experience than it first seems, and disenchantment with that experience and alienation from electoral democracy are increasingly common phenomena. These reports aim to articulate that experience, and to respond to its challenges. In so doing, they emphasise the limitations of ideas about democracy, explanations of political behaviour and exhortations to voters that ignore what it is like to be a voter, and the experiences of collective responsibility but, also, of powerlessness that mark that experience for so many.