European Democracies Research Articles

The relational dimension of the person in María Zambrano’s philosophy

María Zambrano is among the most influential voices in the philosophical landscape of the 20th century. Her thought, which came to light slowly and with delayed recognition, is still highly topical today. Of great interest is her reflection on the idea of democracy in Europe, which represents an anticipatory look at many contemporary issues. As a Spanish exile and witness of the Second World War, Zambrano is, to all intents and purposes, a European citizen who recounts the agony that her distant Europe is experiencing with great passion. The attention she pays to that decadent and diseased body, as she calls it, captures an additional dimension to the historical-political one, which is nevertheless central. In describing the violence of those years, she reaps the seeds that made the emergence of a common European ground possible, and that must be nurtured again. It is not only a matter of rediscovering the cultural roots - philosophical thought and the Christian message – but also of understanding the causes of that history that became sacrificial. It is, therefore, a matter of rethinking the human in virtue of its creatural and transcendent dimension and rediscovering the common origin that makes every human being a part of the same humanity.

Mental health-related limitations and political leadership in Germany: A multidisciplinary analysis of legal, psychiatric, and ethical frameworks

In recent years, political events have reignited contentious debates about psychiatry and democratic governance. This discourse has largely centred around the ethics and morality of public commentary, particularly in relation to the American Psychiatric Association's Goldwater Rule. Yet, few studies have examined the practical implications of health-related limitations due to mental illness in national leadership and the constitutional and legal provisions that surround these issues, including voluntary or involuntary proceedings. Accordingly, this theoretical paper analyses these topics in a German context using the position at the head of the executive: the chancellorship. Germany was selected as a case example as the biggest democracy in Europe with modern legal frameworks representative of the post-World War Two era in European constitutionalism, and for its economic and political influence within the European Union. Throughout this paper, we do not speculate on the mental health of any individual (past or present), but instead explore jurisdictional mechanisms around health-related limitations in German high office. Consequently, we outline relevant constitutional and legal scenarios, and how short- or long-term medical incapacity may determine requisite responses and contingent complexities. This underpins our discussion, where we consider legal ambiguities, functional capacity, and ethical concerns in psychiatric practice.

The program-to-campaign linkage: Party organization and ideological inconsistency during election campaigns

What determines party strategies in the short run during election campaigns? In this paper, I highlight a novel aspect of party behavior pertaining to the connection between election programs and actual campaign statements issued by party elites in the media. I argue that party leaders may feel compelled to fine-tune their rhetoric and stances during campaigns and thus deviate from their party’s election programs. Nonetheless, their ability to conduct ad-hoc adaptations is limited. The theory I propose posits that two features of party organizations will determine if party leaders can engage in short-term inconsistencies. First, membership-dominated parties will be less likely to be inconsistent because their leaders will fear alienating (the strong) party members and getting punished as a result. Second, parties with strong societal integration—those that maintain strong ties with society and an extensive network of local branches—are more likely to indulge in ideological inconsistency because they establish close bonds with voters based on problem-solving rather than broad ideological principles. I test these dynamics in 14 European democracies between 1972 and 2017 and find strong empirical support. The findings show that intricate party organizations and robust connections with normal citizens influence parties’ short-term strategies during election campaigns.

The British Conservative Party, the Scandinavian Conservative Parties, and Inter-Party Cooperation in Europe, 1949-78

ABSTRACT This article explores the links between the British and Scandinavian Conservative parties in Europe between the late-1940s and the late-1970s. Its findings show that these parties were closer to each other than has been assumed. The British and Scandinavian Conservative parties built up significant relationships with each other at the organisational level throughout the 1950s, which led to transfers of political knowledge and information mostly from Britain to Scandinavia. From the 1960s the circulation of knowledge started to flow in both directions, but it was strongest in the Swedish case. The British Conservative Party then bridged the gap between the Scandinavian Conservative parties and the West German CDU/ CSU and the Austrian ÖVP in Europe, helping to cement the parties into a new centre-right international known as European Democrat Union. This gave the British and Scandinavian Conservative parties more contacts abroad and reinforced the view that British Conservatism was not an ideological outlier in Europe. But the history of inter-party cooperation shows that the British and Scandinavian Conservatives were mostly at odds with the greater integrationist and federalist ambitions of Christian democrats. Therefore, the article offers us another way of explaining the persistence of Euroscepticism in the British Conservative Party.

Ideological drivers of participatory democracy in Europe: disentangling the different approaches of populism and post-materialist politics

Empirical literature regarding which actors support the most participatory democracy is surprisingly scarce. Discussing the core ideological features of populist and post-materialist-centred parties, we expect that these parties emphasise participatory democracy more than their competitors. Additionally, populist parties should embody a monist demand for greater participatory democracy, while post-materialist-centred (PMC) parties should advocate a pluralist understanding of it. Drawing on party electoral manifestos, we verify these assumptions in several national elections across Europe. Our findings show mixed support for the theoretical expectations. Both post-materialist and populist parties support participatory democracy more than other parties, and their principles diverge. More precisely, our data confirm that PMC parties advocate a pluralist understanding of participatory democracy. Yet populist parties show a fuzzier picture. While populist radical right parties exhibit a monist profile, radical left populist parties are much more in line with post-materialist arguments.

Developing normative criteria for meaningful citizen participation and deliberation in environmental policy

The European Green Deal (EGD) represents the most ambitious environmental policy framework in European history, aimed at improving the health and well-being of citizens and future generations through climate action and becoming the first climate-neutral region in the world by 2050. The EC has initiated the European Democracy Action Plan and the European Climate Pact to include the participation of citizens in a meaningful way to help achieve these goals (i.e. not simply a tokenistic gesture or box-ticking exercise). While these efforts to ensure greater citizen participation and deliberation in environmental policy are good first steps, there is still a lack of clarity about what meaningful citizen engagement should look like. This paper will propose that for such efforts to be successful, we need to assess different perspectives in the debate and provide recommendations based on this. This paper provides a systematic review of various approaches within the academic literature on citizen participation and deliberation in environmental policy (ecocentrism, biocentrism, ecomodernism, ecofeminism, environmental pragmatism, environmental citizenship, environmental rights, and environmental justice). Following this, we provide a list of 16 criteria (in five thematic sections) for policymakers, civil society organisations (CSOs), and society, to ensure meaningful citizen participation and deliberation.

Party System Closure: Party Alliances, Government Alternatives, and Democracy in Europe. By Fernando Casal Bértoa and Zsolt Enyedi. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021. 320p. $100.00 cloth.

Party System Closure: Party Alliances, Government Alternatives, and Democracy in Europe. By Fernando Casal Bértoa and Zsolt Enyedi. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021. 320p. $100.00 cloth. - Volume 21 Issue 2

Election Frequency and Voter Turnout

In recent decades, liberal democracies have considerably expanded the scope for citizen participation, calling their citizens to vote in a growing number of popular votes. This research investigates the effects of the rising election frequency on electoral participation. It expands on the voting calculus and theorizes which, when, and how past votes affect current voter turnout. We argue that all election types contribute to a common factor of election frequency, whose high values depress turnout and reduce the effectiveness of party mobilization even in the most important elections. We find support for the new theory using an original database of all significant elections and referendums held in 22 European democracies between 1939 and 2019, two natural experiments, and survey data from the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems. Our findings shed light on contemporary participation trends and have major implications for democratic citizenship and democratic institutional engineering.

Public subsidies for credit support, democracy and European female-led SMEs

PurposeThe article investigates whether variety of democracy affects the probability to employ public subsidies for credit support by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) led by female entrepreneurs.Design/methodology/approachBuilding on the literature on democracy and on gender differences, it leverages a large firm- and country-level dataset (SAFE) of 31 democracies in Europe (EU and non-EU) over the 2009–2014 period by using probit models and instrumental variable approaches.FindingsResults from the different econometric techniques and samples suggest that variety of democracy affects female-led SMEs in using public subsidies for credit support. The evidence is robust to endogeneity concerns.Research limitations/implicationsThe empirical evidence presents a time frame limitation. At the same time, SAFE is the only database that supplies information about the gender of firms and public subsidies for credit support, rendering it the only resource that allows the test of the hypothesis proposed. The article therefore offers insights for scholars to revisit our results in future studies that make use of datasets with a longer time span – when they will become available.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, the article is the first to study the effect of democracy on female entrepreneurial behavior in the use of public subsidies for credit support.

Attitudes on (future) EU integration and cooperation among youth: Regional divide?

BACKGROUND: The focus of the article is on the attitudes among 8th graders in European countries on future European/EU integration and cooperation. OBJECTIVE: Our objective is to investigate to what extent different background characteristics are related with students’ attitudes, opinions and expectations about sense of European identity, future of Europe (and EU), and student’s endorsement of European cooperation (where part of the scale is also variable “to reduce unemployment”). And how strong is the association between student positive expectations towards Europe and other attitudes related with Europe/EU, and is there clear divide between post-communist countries (newer democracies in Europe) and the rest? METHOD: The techniques used to analyse the data are descriptive statistics, linear and binary logistic regression, Pearson’s and Spearman’s correlation coefficients. Datasets are from last cycle of the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS), N = 52,788 students. RESULTS: Results show important differences in perceptions, attitudes and expectations between students in newer and older democracies. These patterns may not always be clear and interpretable, but they show the differences across Europe. CONCLUSIONS: Future direct research are pointing on importance of having in mind that different background characteristics attributes to differences in attitudes’ developments (and that this difers among countries), as well as on very challenging decisions when considering different regions to compare results among them, at that even post-communistic countries in Europe can not always be grouped in one “block”.

European identity and European political parties

ABSTRACT The legitimisation of European institutions tends to be a primary issue of debate in European identity politics. Following the expansion of the EU competencies and the growth of Eurosceptic forces, the attention gained by the democratic accountability of the European institutions should encourage reflections on the role assigned to the European political parties. Although it is impossible to equate the functioning of European democracy with national experiences, party politics remains an essential component of any democratic regime. This study is the first attempt to observe the engagement of European political organisations in promoting a collective European identity. To schematise the analysis, three ideal types are presented to illustrate different models of European identitarian attachment. The critical discourse analysis (CDA) and discourse-historical approach (DHA) from the manifestos of the European Christian-conservative, Socialist and Liberal parties have identified the activism of the parties in promoting divergent European identities, highlighting the intermediate role that European political parties could play in linking the European institutions with citizens.

Las transiciones a la democracia en el sur de Europa: Una introducción historiográfica

This text serves as an introduction to the dossier 50 years of Scholarship on the Southern European Democratic Transitions: A Comparative Approach which aims to compare and contrast these processes in Greece, Portugal and Spain, as they unfolded during the 1970s and beyond. Our starting point is that the three Transitions were conceptually linked from the beginning as the vanguard of Huntington’s famous “third wave” of democratic transitions, but there has been little substantive comparative historical research, especially considering all three cases together. To foster a more substantive comparative approach, the editors pursued a strategy of co-authorship around common themes, hoping this would facilitate deeper conversations across national divides and languages. This introduction starts with a brief assessment of several generations of historiography, considering the genealogy of the Southern European “model” of transition, followed by an appraisal of several contributions that have either endorsed or challenged this early model. It then offers a description of the main arguments put forward by the contributors of the dossier, followed by a survey of other relevant debates and promising new directions. It concludes by encouraging further comparative research on the three cases, either as a single unit or in conjunction with other cases.

Divided We Unite: The Nature of Partyism and the Role of Coalition Partnership in Europe

Highlighting the strength of “partyism” in many democracies, recent scholarship pays keen attention to increasing hostility and distrust among citizens across party lines, known as affective polarization. By combining a conjoint analysis with decision-making games such as dictator and trust games, we design a novel survey experiment to systematically estimate and compare the strength of the partisan divide relative to other social divides across 25 European democracies. This design also allows us to investigate how the two components of affective polarization, in-group favoritism and out-group derogation, are moderated by the way parties interact with each other. We first find dominance of the partisan divide compared to other social divides that constitute traditional cleavages such as social class and religion. Second, we show that affective polarization in Europe is not primarily driven by out-group animus. Finally, we demonstrate that coalition partnership lessens affective polarization by reducing both in-group and out-group biases.

Islam, opinion climates, and immigrant party loyalties in Western Europe

This article examines how religion – particularly Islam – and anti-immigrant opinion climates influence the patterns of partisanship among first-generation immigrants in Western Europe. It suggests that Muslim propensity to become partisans and identify with Christian democratic parties depends on anti-immigrant opinion climate in their host country. The analyses based on individual-level data from the European Social Survey (ESS) 2002–2019 in 19 West European democracies reveal that while Muslims are indeed less likely to become partisans in anti-immigrant host societies, the opposite is true in hospitable opinion climates. Moreover, compared to other immigrants, Muslims are less likely to identify with Christian democratic parties, but this relationship is substantively small and limited to highly anti-immigrant countries. In contrast, Muslims are more likely to align with socialist parties at all levels of anti-immigrant sentiment. These findings have important implications for debates on immigrant political integration and the future of electoral alignments in Western Europe.

A PREMONITION OF WAR IN LITHUANIAN MUSIC AND LITERATURE (2021–2022)

The article draws attention to the impact of the political situation on the conceptuality of music and the formation of paradigmatic situations of musical language in newly created pieces. Such examples can be found in the new works of three young authors: Mykolas Natalevičius (b. 1985) «Gas Flare», Andrius Šiurys (b. 1991) «Non-finito» and Dominykas Digimas (b. 1993) «Sub-silence» for flute and organ, 2022. Here the music is identified with space — with the emerging connection between space and the universe, with the analogy of burning space and emptiness, consolidating the paradigm of space and its transformations in new music. In other words, the transcendentalism of its visual landscape is linked to the air as a matter via the acoustic sound poetics of air-controlled instruments, flute and organ. It is particularly related to the paradigm of the vanishing and the birth of sound or the rebirth in a hum, a particular analogy of the apocalypse and the creation of an alternative — the other space. In that sense, the works of this new music can be filled with a premonition of war and the annihilation of humanity, what their content speaks about. Natalevičius’s «Gas Flare» talks about the ecological death of the earth, related to the extraction of gas energy from the depths of the earth. About the flame, its overall destructive irrationality and the eclipse of the economy. Šiurys’s «Non-finito» tells about the interaction of timelines leading to a rationally cold aggressive nothingness, the so-called «The Devil’s stairs» (according to G. Ligeti) and the static of eternity. Digimas’s «Sub-silence» is a work of post-apocalyptic hope, where the depths of silence hide the impulses of the light-shadow interaction, the mysterious movement of the regrouping of the layers of nature and the mystifying rebirth — the silent turn of the world. The latter is a characteristic phenomenon of Lithuanian art philosophy, the pulsation of the links between art and nature, which Digimas transforms into the present in his own way, concentrating even more on the paradigmatic situation of a global transformation.
 Meanwhile, the literature opens up a direct historical context connected to the present: Russia versus Europe. It is the latest book, «Peter’s Empress», volumes I and II by Kristina Sabaliauskaitė (b. 1974), the most popular writer in Lithuania at this moment (Vilnius: Baltos lankos, 2019, 2021). Here, the writer exposes the horrific wounds of Russian history, the implied terror and threats to Europe, based on the historical facts of the era of Peter I, told through the perception of his wife Marta Skowronska, who originally came from a Lithuanian-Polish family, living in town and went through all the possible shifts and metamorphosis to become the Empress of Russia. The difficult-to-take-in topicality of Sabaliauskaitė’s book, opening the sick Russian mentality connection between medieval slavery, world domination and being sealed off from foreign influences, a mixture of raging madness and cruelty, was an extremely prophetic literary «blow» in 2021, which shook Lithuania, reminding of terrible experiences before the start of a new war. The writer also became an analyst of the actual today’s situation, presenting translations of «Peter’s Empress» in Europe and at book forums, where her work and thoughts about Russia’s mental identity became a sharp intellectual instrument capable of explaining the «implausibility» of the war to a nurtured European democracy. Thus, she and her literature became direct participants in the defence mission of the hurt nations.It can be stated that Lithuanian music and literature sensed the essential quiet and later a blazing turn of the world and unfolded Baltic Mannerheim’s line on its horizons.

Opposites But Similar? Technocracy and Populism in Contemporary European Democracies

The purpose of this paper is to examine the characteristics of two political phenomena: populism and technocracy. Often seen as opposites, the two factors are linked by some elements: both are described by their proponents as remedies to the legitimacy crisis that modern representative democracies are going through; both tend to define certain practices and principles of constitutional democracy that are insufficient to ensure effective governance of society; both see as their main remedy a restriction of the classical functions of representation and of the institutions of mediation (parties and parliament among all). Nevertheless, the two phenomena seem to follow the dynamics of opposite extremes: in the phases when the democratic order is increasingly identified with technocracy, the populist democratic eschatology gains confidence on the basis of the promise to return to citizens the power stolen from them by non-elective institutions. We will attempt to identify some key features that unite the two phenomena and we will highlight the differences in principle, the possible relationships as part of a more general democratic vulnus and the different types of impact they have on democracy and its principles.

About the war in Ukraine: the price of democracy

The article analyzes the political motives of Ukrainian resistance to Russian invasion and aggression. First of all, it emphasizes the falsification of history by Russian propaganda, its use of history as a political instrument, the destruction of the traumatic memory of the recent imperial past and the glorification of the “glorious centuries-old” imperial history in modern Russia. This determines the difference in the structure of the historical memory of Russians and other former peoples of the empire, and the recent memory of the tragic imperial past is the leading factor in the choice of the Ukrainian and Moldovan peoples for their political destiny. The article also shows that this choice, as well as the desire for truth, freedom and rights, determines these peoples’ slow but sure progress toward democracy. These choices and aspirations are at the same time a determining factor in the ability of the Ukrainian people to resist Russian armed aggression. Instead, the so-called “civilizational” links between the former peoples of the empire, with which Russia tries to justify its aggression, are actually a cover for its desire for political dominance. The article also outlines the importance of Ukrainian resistance for European democracies, calling for their unconditional support. The war in Ukraine is a challenge for them, because no matter what problems democracies around the world are facing today, they will remain actors of their own history only if they provide support to all those who resist the destruction of the minimum of rights and freedoms that define democracy. Using Kant’s work «Perpetual Peace» as an example, the article also shows that the cessation of war for the sake of cessation of war, which is often called for today, will not contribute to the establishment of peace. It will leave grounds for the renewal of war, which the aggressor, if he will not change its political essence, will always be able to use it again.

Public service media in countries with fragile democracy in Europe: the case of Kosovo

Public service media in countries with fragile democracy in Europe: the case of Kosovo

La saluberrima auctoritas del sinodo: il tracciato della sinodalitá al tempo di Agostino d'Ippona by Giuseppe Di Corrado (review)

Reviewed by: La saluberrima auctoritas del sinodo: il tracciato della sinodalitá al tempo di Agostino d'Ippona by Giuseppe Di Corrado Simon Mercieca La saluberrima auctoritas del sinodo: il tracciato della sinodalitá al tempo di Agostino d'Ippona. By Giuseppe Di Corrado. (Trapani, Italy: Il Pozzo di Giacobbe. 2022. Pp. 165. €20,00. ISBN 978-88-6124-997-4). The title of his book in English would be: The Healthy Authority of the Synod: the Pathways of Synodality at the Time of Augustine of Hippo. As noted by Cardinal Mario Grech, in the introduction to this book, this is an important work that will help the Roman Catholic Church find its path along the tortuous road of the third millennium. Grech is absolutely right. As observed by the author, Giuseppe Di Corrado, reconstructing the history of the origins of synodality within the Church is not easy, as the early fathers did not keep records or have fixed rules and regulations about how these synods were to be convened and held. Therefore, even the percursus of constructing such a history represents a mammoth task. However, the end result is more than rewarding, for it can help today's Church establish the correct way of holding synods and what these synods should represent to the faithful of God. Di Corrado has built his narrative step by step from snippets, and detailed references, to the administrative procedures from works of St. Augustine and other early fathers of the Church. No source has been ignored, including those considered controversial such as the works and letters of Pelagius. Even disputed theological treaties can furnish invaluable historical information. Nothing in history can or should ever be discarded. What is of great interest here, and this is not only for those who study early church history but also for those interested in the development of democracy in Europe, is that this process of synodality began in North Africa. It was the work of the bishops in North Africa, starting with Augustine of Hippo—but not only Augustine—who established the Roman authority of the pope on the principle of collegiality. [End Page 392] Thanks to this process, Rome had left it in the hands of local bishops to regulate issues of discipline within their own dioceses. On their part, the bishops did not take matters into their hands but sought to regulate their actions through the governing body of the synod. The way these synods met was not much different from the way parliaments or Estates-General worked in Europe during Early Modern Times. What made these synods unique, and I would add precursors of modern parliaments, was the fact that the laymen had a right to attend and even to set and influence the synods' agenda. As happens in parliaments today, they were not allowed to sit with the elected who, in the case of the synods, were the priests and presbyterians; the rest stayed outside the presbytery. At the same time, Di Corrado warns the reader that the synods should not be considered—as rightly stated by Pope Francis—to be a sort of church parliament. Synods were not held to confront theologians nor to set up policies but to bring reconciliation within the Church's fractured communities. This was to materialize through auctoritas or authority. This explains why authority is described as salubrious in this book. Therefore, auctoritas goes beyond the Foucauldian interpretation of power. The power of the Church, Di Corrado reminds us, should be employed differently from the power or auctoritas of the state. The power of the Church should be led by the Holy Spirit and the love toward one's neighbor. Di Corrado's work reveals another interesting aspect that deserves attention. In this period of early Christianity, there was no concept of separation of powers. This is what the author of this book means when he states that the Church of Africa, in particular St. Augustine, upheld the principle that the ultimate power lay with the pope in Rome. In other words, in the Early Church, there were different concepts of power or auctoritas and the auctoritas of the pope in Rome was understood differently from the auctoritas of...

Public media service in countries with fragile democracy in Europe: the case of Kosovo.

Public media service in countries with fragile democracy in Europe: the case of Kosovo.