Institutions and the Evolution of European Democracy

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Abstract The purpose of this chapter is to place contemporary debate about European democracy in a wider historical context by considering how analyses of the institutions that underpin democracy in Europe have evolved over time in tandem with political developments. It is said that those who neglect history are doomed to repeat it, and that can be also true of social science. We depend on the insights of successive generations of scholars for much of what we know about democracy, and by examining how their analyses shifted as European governance itself evolved, we can develop perspectives with which to understand the problems confronting Europe today. The survey is necessarily brief survey, but references are provided that lead to deeper debates. The different sections of the chapter are: The Feasibility of Popular Government; The Importance of Culture, Organization, and Social Conditions; Technocracy, Neo–Corporatism, and the Romantic Revolt; The Move to the Market; and Contemporary

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