The Crisis of Democracy

The Crisis of Democracy

The Crisis of Democracy: On the Governability of Democracies was initially a 1975 report written by Michel Crozier, Samuel P. Huntington, and Joji Watanuki for the Trilateral Commission and later published as a book.

The report observed the political state of the United States, Europe and Japan and says that in the United States the problems of governance "stem from an excess of democracy" and thus advocates "to restore the prestige and authority of central government institutions."[1]

Contents

Overview

Europe

The report outlines that in 1960s Western Europe the governments are "overloaded with participants and demands" which the highly bureaucratic political systems are unable to handle and thus is becoming ungovernable. It points to a political decision made by France that was made in "semisecret, without open political debate, but with a tremendous amount of lobbying and intrabureaucratic conflict".

United States

The vitality of democracy in the United States in the 1960s produced a substantial increase in governmental activity and a substantial decrease in governmental authority.

—Samuel P. Huntington

The report says the problems of the United States in the 1960s was the "impulse of democracy is to make government less powerful and more active, to increase its functions, and to decrease its authority" and concludes these demands are contradictory. The impulse for the undermining of legitimacy was said to be done by new activism, an adversarial news media while the increase in government was said to be due to the Cold War defense budget and Great Society programs. Thus what is said to be needed is a "balance is to be restored between governmental activity and governmental authority". The effects of this "excess of democracy" if not fixed are said to be an inability to maintain international trade, budget deficits and inability to maintain "hegemonic power" in the world.

Influence

It has been observed by critics that many members of the Trilateral Commission had roles in the Carter Administration and have been influenced by the report.[2] Specifically, Zbigniew Brzezinski stated the conclusions of the report in an op-ed for the St. Petersburg Times.[3]

Criticism

Noam Chomsky has criticized the report as being "the ideology of the liberal wing of the state capitalist ruling elite" and has said that it seeks to increase state power.[2]

See Also

References

  1. ^ The Crisis of Democracy Trilateral Commission Report, pg. 123, 179
  2. ^ a b "The Carter Administration: Myth and Reality", Noam Chomsky
  3. ^ "Examining the crisis of democracy"Aug 2, 1974, St. Petersburg Times

External links

The Crisis of Democracy Trilateral Commission Report, New York University Press


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