Crisis Of Democratic Representation Research Articles

EXPLAINING ISLAMIC POPULISM IN SOUTHEAST ASIA: AN INDONESIAN MUSLIM INTELLECTUALS PERSPECTIVE

Why do religious populism can strengthen in contemporary Southeast Asia? The recent rise of mass mobilization that uses religious identities in Southeast Asia has driven scholarly debate about what caused the unprecedented religious populism. This article seeks to explain an Indonesian Muslim intellectual discourse on the rise of Islamic populism, and it’s causes through a close examination of the case of Islamist-populist mobilization in Indonesia in late 2016. As already well known, there has been no singular explanation of Muslim intellectuals, in this case, are moderate and progressive groups, in response to the Islamist mobilization. Some scholars have argued that increasing conservatism among the Muslim population is an important factor, while others have disputed such a view, arguing that the crisis of democratic representation is the main factor. Borrowing Faucoult’s perspective, the article argues that the plurality and even contradictions of thoughts among moderate-progressive Muslim intellectuals are not only due to differences in their perspectives but also their position in the power/knowledge constellation.

Constitutional Order in Oligarchic Democracies: Neoliberal Rights versus Socio-Economic Rights

What is the relationship between constitutional order and the emergence of oligarchic politics in contemporary democratic societies? How and to what extent does constitutional design contribute to oligarchic politics in contemporary liberal democratic states? Focusing on constitutional discourses, rather than the legal positivist interpretation of the constitution (or constitutions as text), I maintain that state constitutions should be understood as an ideational-discursive realm of competing discourses, paradigms, and interpretations of an ideal state. My main argument states that oligarchic democracies emerge because a coalition of stakeholders that promote neoliberal understanding of the constitution has taken hold of this discursive realm of constitutional interpretation both within the state apparatus and the public sphere. Thus, the crisis of democratic representation and its relationship to constitutional design represents ideational and materialist aspects: oligarchs promote, reinforce, and sustain self-serving constitutional interpretations and discourses that reinforce the political logic of oligarchic wealth accumulation while suppressing the politics of peaceful dissent and distributive justice.

Breaching the Social Contract: Crises of Democratic Representation and Patterns of Extreme Right Party Support

Why has the extreme right Greek Golden Dawn, a party with clear links to fascism, experienced a rise defying all theories that claim that such a party is unlikely to win in post-Second World War Europe? And, if we accept that economic crisis is an explanation for this, why has such a phenomenon not occurred in other countries that have similar conducive conditions, such as Portugal and Spain? This article addresses this puzzle by: (1) carrying out a controlled comparison of Greece, Portugal and Spain; and (2) showing that the rise of the extreme right is not a question of intensity of economic crisis. Rather it is the nature of the crisis – that is, economic versus overall crisis of democratic representation – that facilitates the rise of the extreme right. We argue that extreme right parties are more likely to experience an increase in their support when economic crisis culminates into an overall crisis of democratic representation. Economic crisis is likely to become a political crisis when severe issues of governability impact upon the ability of the state to fulfil its social contract obligations. This breach of the social contract is accompanied by declining levels of trust in state institutions, resulting in party system collapse.

Apocalypse Not Now? The Argentine Party System after the 2001-2002 Crisis

In The Crisis of Democratic Representation in the Andes, Mainwaring, Bejarano & Pizarro Leongomez define party system collapse as a rejection of not just particular parties but of most parties due to a break in the ties between principal and agent. Argentina experienced a situation that not only can be described in those terms, but that also reached its zenith in the political and economic crisis of 2001-2002. The party system was affected, but did not collapse. This case study argues that the reasons for that outcome are a political culture that still prizes democracy despite skepticism towards parties, the continued influence of Peronism over party politics as exemplified by aspects such as its extensive patronage machinery, and the appearance of partisan alternatives that are palpably weak but are nevertheless loyal to the political system and have campaigned on issues related to the crisis of democratic representation. In short, Mainwaring, Bejarano & Pizarro Leongomez’s definition of party system collapse is not an entirely accurate description of what occurred to the Argentine party system as a result of the crisis.

The Crisis of Democratic Representation in the Andes (review)

The Crisis of Democratic Representation in the Andes (review)

The Crisis of democratic representation in the Andes

The Crisis of democratic representation in the Andes