Blame Avoidance in Post-Democratic Societies. Do Political Actors Impact Policy Reforms in Accord with or Despite Institutional and Electoral Arrangements?

The crisis in the European Union has created a multitude of challenges. Besides finance and the real economy, the imposed measures and reforms constitute problems for representative democracies. In this context, the crisis offers the opportunity to discuss and contrast two theories concerning the relevance of institutional and electoral arrangements. According to the blame avoidance approach (Paul Pierson), the interrelation between politicians and the electorate shape policy outputs. On the contrary, the post-democratic approach (Colin Crouch) emphasises the irrelevance of existing electoral as well as institutional arrangements in the process of reforming policies. By critically reviewing both theories, this paper provides a comparative analysis of the political actors, that were involved in the reform process of the current crisis. As a result, the identification of relevant actors establishes a basis for further research concerning challenges for democratic representation and offers new suggestions for effective participation.