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The Crisis of Representative Democracy in the Post-Yugoslav Region. Discrepancies of Elite Policies and Citizens’ Expectations

The Crisis of Representative Democracy in the Post-Yugoslav Region. Discrepancies of Elite... If free and fair elections repeatedly fail to respond to popular dissatisfaction, then a crisis of representative democracy will emerge. In Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia, such a crisis is already undermining the legitimacy of their young democratic systems. Despite positive evaluations from democracy indices and EU reports, citizens are increasingly discontent and give little support to the existing political options. Understanding the causes and characteristics of this crisis requires revising the instruments for measuring democracy. More attention needs to be focused on citizens’ expectations for a freer and more prosperous future after their experiences of the crisis of state socialism. Measurements of institutional changes must also include people’s attitudes towards institutions. In addition, main trends in the economy as experienced by the average citizen need to be considered: evidence of an elite-captured economy, rising inequality, and limited state capacity to redistribute resources are crucial factors in understanding discrepancies between formal democratic standards and the actual responsiveness of the system to the wishes of its citizens. From the analysis of these post-Yugoslav societies, this article draws conclusions for general democracy theory. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Southeastern Europe Brill

The Crisis of Representative Democracy in the Post-Yugoslav Region. Discrepancies of Elite Policies and Citizens’ Expectations

Džihić Vedran; Segert, Dieter; Wieser, Angela
Southeastern Europe , Volume 36 (1): 87 – Jan 1, 2012
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References (56)

Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© 2012 by Koninklijke Brill N.V., Leiden, The Netherlands
Subject
Articles
ISSN
0094-4467
eISSN
1876-3332
DOI
10.1163/187633312X616995
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

If free and fair elections repeatedly fail to respond to popular dissatisfaction, then a crisis of representative democracy will emerge. In Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia, such a crisis is already undermining the legitimacy of their young democratic systems. Despite positive evaluations from democracy indices and EU reports, citizens are increasingly discontent and give little support to the existing political options. Understanding the causes and characteristics of this crisis requires revising the instruments for measuring democracy. More attention needs to be focused on citizens’ expectations for a freer and more prosperous future after their experiences of the crisis of state socialism. Measurements of institutional changes must also include people’s attitudes towards institutions. In addition, main trends in the economy as experienced by the average citizen need to be considered: evidence of an elite-captured economy, rising inequality, and limited state capacity to redistribute resources are crucial factors in understanding discrepancies between formal democratic standards and the actual responsiveness of the system to the wishes of its citizens. From the analysis of these post-Yugoslav societies, this article draws conclusions for general democracy theory.

Journal

Southeastern Europe – Brill

Published: Jan 1, 2012

Keywords: democratization; transformation; Former Yugoslavia; Western Balkans; legitimacy; responsiveness; representation; participation; inequalities

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