Political Representation in Time of Crisis

Abstract

The financial crisis that started in the USA in 2008 hit Europe in different but related ways. Financially, the European banking system suffered from solvency problems and, as a consequence, major bail-out programs were implemented by some countries. The EU’s own currency, the euro, was also under massive stress and that put some countries at the verge of bankruptcy. These economic conditions prove devastating for politics in several ways. First, political and economic institutions, both at national and supranational levels, became ineffective in reducing market pressures on the euro. The national parliaments and executive from some countries within the euro-zone had limited capacity to react to the crisis since they were monitored by EU institutions. Second, the supranational pressures on domestic agendas had consequences in terms of governance. In Italy and Greece, democratically elected governments were replaced by technocratic non-elected executives. In Spain, sovereign debt crisis showed institutional failures in particular with regards the territorial organization of the country. Citizens, particularly in the Southern region of the euro-zone, began to question the utility of traditional mechanisms of political representation like parties, the role of parliaments, or electoral rules. This panel focus on these questions in a comparative perspective. The main goal is to analyse different issues of political representation in a context of great economic and institutional uncertainty.