Strengthening Democracy in Europe and its Resilience against Autocracy: Daring more Democracy and a European Democracy Charter. Research Paper in Law 01/2019

Nemitz, Paul and Ehm, Frithjof (2019) Strengthening Democracy in Europe and its Resilience against Autocracy: Daring more Democracy and a European Democracy Charter. Research Paper in Law 01/2019. UNSPECIFIED.

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Abstract

Representative Democracy is in crisis and this not only in Europe, considering developments in the US in particular.1 EU Member States like Poland, 2 Hungary3 and Austria4 are governed by populists, some of them with autocratic tendencies.5 France is facing a crisis of political violence with “Gilets Jaunes” rampaging on its streets. Romania is riddled by corruption.6 Ever lower participation in elections and declining membership in political parties on both sides of the Atlantic document the steady decline of engagement of people in representative democracy. At the same time, the US under President Trump tries to weaken the EU7 and so does Russia, both spreading fake news, openly and covertly undermining democracy in Europe.8And the new electronic communication environment on the internet, controlled by a few mega corporations, undermines journalism and the free, privately financed press of the fourth estate. They provide not only a fertile ground for populist slogans and the mobilisation of hate and violence but also the means to manipulate voters, effectively leading to situations like the Facebook Cambridge Analytica scandal and in fine the result of the Brexit vote in the UK.9 They socialise people to instant consumption, cutting out the middlemen – and create the illusion that this is possible in democracy, as it is possible in markets, thus undermining elections, elected lawmakers and representative democracy.

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