The Living Death of West European Democracy

This paper examines the transformation of democratic governance in Western Europe. It argues that the undeniable decline in democratic participating processes does not constitute a threat to capitalist hegemony. Citizens and elites are withdrawing from election and parties because they are satisfied with the professionalization of politics and the entertainment content of spectator democracy. Capitalist governance is threatened by an extra systemic force in Europe and not by a decline in popular democratic participation.