The Ideal of Western Liberal Democracy and Real Democracies

Abstract

The distinction between the ideal of Western Liberal democracy and real democracies is essential for all those who desire to understand what is going on in the world of democratic regimes. In fact, there is no crisis of the ideal. Indeed, the ideal continues to be the goal of all those who, no matter in which part of the world, want to obtain and maintain civil and political rights and to construct a political system characterized by pluralism and free and fair elections. Many of them, the statistics show, have had success. Real democracies are always facing challenges and problems. The most important one in recent times is populism. Accommodating political and parliamentary representation for the populists is a sign that democratic regimes work and know how to react and transform themselves. The author argues that the most important factor affecting the dynamics of contemporary democratic political systems is the decline of political parties. Parties created and accompanied real democracies. Their decline has a negative impact on the quality and, perhaps, even the continued existence of real democracies.