Changing Patterns of Democracies: Mapping and Identifying Reform Trends

Abstract

There is currently abundant research available focusing on different types of democracies, to name just a few: majoritarian (e.g. Powell 2000; Lijphart 1999), deliberative (e.g. Mutz 2006), (il)liberal (e.g. Zakaria 1997; Diamond 1999), delegative (e.g. O'Donnell 1993), and participatory (e.g. Zittel and Fuchs 2007) democracy. Yet there have been few studies that have linked this literature to specific changes in the institutional structure of democracies. This panel aims to combine and build upon existing literature on institutional reform and types of democracies, and to better understand in what ways democratic systems have changed the last few decades. A number of changes within the political system could be identified, and even though these may not always be either intended or aimed to affect the core democratic principles, systemic changes may still lead to a change in the character of democracy. One important aspect in this panel is therefore also to identify and map structural institutional changes within democracies. Some of the main questions we wish to discuss within this panel are: What systematic, institutional, changes have there been in democratic systems during the last decades? How can the different reforms be categorized using democratic theory? One could for example think about “expert democracy”, “participatory democracy”, “Madisonian democracy” or “popular democracy” Can any reform trends (either major or minor) be identified within western democracies? Are democracies shifting towards the direct democratic model or to the expert (technocratic) model of democracy due to institutional change, or are they in practice not mutually exclusive?

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