THE PROJECT VOLUME
Publisher: Pragma Publishing
Online publication date: December 2023
ISBN: 978-2-9592695-0-9
DOI: https://doi.org/10.62483/73867875
RECONSTRUCTING DEMOCRACY IN TIMES OF CRISIS
A Voter-Centred Perspective
Edited by ANNABELLE LEVER (Sciences Po Paris)
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.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Democratic Political Institutions in Europe
Attila Mráz, Annabelle Lever
2. Ethically Relevant Dimensions of Elections, Referenda, and Primaries
Emanuela Ceva, Nenad Stojanović
3. Different Philosophical Conceptions of Democracy
Marcus Carlsen Häggrot
4. The Circumstances of Democracy in Europe
Corrado Fumagalli, Valeria Ottonelli
5. Voter-Centred Perspectives on Electoral Democracy
Attila Mráz, Annabelle Lever
6. Typical Conflicts of Duty and Prudence Facing Voters in Democracies
Corrado Fumagalli, Michele Giavazzi, Valeria Ottonelli
7. How Political Institutions Affect the Conflicts of Duty and Prudence Facing Democratic Voters
Attila Mráz, Annabelle Lever
8. How Inequality Influences the Ethical Conflicts Facing Voters
Ludvig Beckman, Alexandru Volacu
9. Opportunities for Citizens to Participate in Organising Elections in Europe
Andreas Albertsen, Annabelle Lever
10. The Effects of Non-Electoral Participation on Voting in Europe
Attila Mráz
11. Electoral Participation and Non-Electoral Participatory Processes
Maria Victoria Inostroza, José Luis Martí