Over the past seven years, dozens of scientists have conducted research into the ups and downs of our democracy for the NWO project 'Contested Democracy'. What new insights has this yielded? Kennislink discussed some important conclusions with initiator Remieg Aerts.
The shockingly rapid rise of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party in economic downturn-plagued Greece demonstrates once again that democracy is vulnerable in times of crisis. Countries such as Italy, Spain, and recently Portugal are also tumbling from one political crisis to the next. Can democracy there cope with all the uncertainty and unease caused by the crisis?
No matter how solid the democratic system in the Netherlands seems, democracy is never 'finished' here either. The functioning of democracy is controversial, and always has been. An increasingly lower turnout in provincial and municipal elections, for example. 'Brussels', which seems to be making decisions about our budget, is that actually right? Is it really 'democratic' that you don't do referendums? Shouldn't we always adapt the functioning of our democracy to the circumstances? What is the role of the media in our system?
Democracy, in short, seems obvious at first sight. But you only have to think a little deeper and all kinds of questions arise. In order to investigate all these kinds of questions, dozens of historians, philosophers, political scientists, sociologists and media scientists have worked on the large-scale NWO project 'Contested Democracy' in recent years. Initiator Remieg Aerts, professor of political history at Radboud University Nijmegen, explains the project. “A new generation of professors wanted to start a whole new kind of democracy research around 2003,” he says over the phone.
“Until then, democracy was often viewed as normative:these are its fixed characteristics, that's how a democracy should function. Anything that deviates from this can be examined. They wanted to do that differently. Every country and every era has its own definition of democracy. In this project we have therefore started to examine democracy in all its facets, both historically and geographically. And to begin with, without a fixed definition of what democracy should be.”
Aerts acknowledges that in the humanities and social sciences it is often not so easy to point out concrete 'discoveries'. Certainly not in such a broad, interdisciplinary project as this one. Nevertheless, there are interesting conclusions to report, for example in the sub-study into the media and the presumed mediacracy.
Increased trust
“Contrary to popular belief, research has shown that today's increasingly commercial media has created a new kind of involvement in politics,” says Aerts. Because there are more and more channels and opinions appear on TV and the Internet, the voter is guided and guided, and he has the idea that there is something to choose from. The rise of commercial and person-oriented reporting appears to increase trust in politics."
It was also pointed out in one of the sub-studies that our form of democracy has a few special paradoxes. Aerts refers to the work of Gijs van Oenen, political philosopher at Erasmus University in Rotterdam. “It often turns out that citizens are unable to deal with the responsibility that a democratic system gives them,” says Aerts. “Initiatives to bring politics closer to citizens often backfire.”
“For example, citizens are increasingly demanding more accountability, security and participation in politics. By meeting this wish, decision-making becomes slower and slower and there is more bureaucracy. The question of who is responsible for policy is also becoming increasingly complex. And that in turn leads to annoyance among citizens.”
Never 'finish'
In the Netherlands, the basic principles of democracy are hardly discussed. No serious politician thinks about abolishing the House of Representatives. Yet our form of democracy is also much more complex than it appears. "In 2007, the slogan of the first Week of Democracy was:'We are the boss.' Aerts:"That slogan is actually not true at all. Because who is meant by we? And what are 'we' in control of? That slogan isn't exactly the fruit of deep thought.”
“Democracy is something very complex and diverse. If you want to make policy in a democratic society, you first have to know how that democracy works. The history of democracy is never 'finished'. We have mapped that out in a new way.”
In 2006, the NWO divisions of Humanities and Social and Behavioral Sciences initiated the 'Contested Democracy' programme. Click here for an overview of all sub-studies. Through collaboration with other institutions, a research budget of 6.2 million euros was allocated to the programme.
Recently, Boom Publishers published the collection Controversial democracy. On the problems of a success story, composed by Remieg Aerts and Peter de Goede.