Slittamenti. Oltre la postdemocrazia = Slipping. Beyond post-democracy

Abstract

The concept of post-democracy, proposed by Colin Crouch, has achieved great success in political and sociological studies. However, the transformation processes undergone by democracy, especially in Europe, have significantly changed the scenario since the central part of the twentieth century. In this situation, the question that arises is whether the concept of post-democracy is still adequate or if it needs to be redefined. Therefore, if democratic processes have evolved technologically, the overall functioning of government systems seems to trace back ancient ways: the technocracy, the elitism of participation, the growth of political proposals which, recalling Max Weber, seem to become less legal and rational than charismatic. In this paper we will try to understand if democracy in Western world is really going through a time of crisis, and if post-democracy is still today adequate to describe it