democracy - Vision the Italian Think Tank

General elections UKShare of eligible voters backing the winning partyEuropean Parliament Turnout *33,4% 32,6%67,2%64,7%30,8%31,9%31,1%63,8%55,1%24,5%49,9%* Spain and Portugal did not join the first, Sweden, Austria and Finland the first three elections. In 2004 ten newmember states joined the EP.45,5%Source: Vision on BBC data21,6%Source: Vision on European Parliament data1979 1983 1987 1992 1997 2001 20051979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004We have, in fact, calculated the share of British voters who have backed the winningparty in the last seven general elections; and the number of European citizens whobothered to go to vote at the elections of the EP since the start.In both cases the decline seems irreversible.Now the thing is that the comparison is particularly interesting because the two casesalmost represent the two extremes of the spectrum of parliamentary systems. On onehand, there is one the oldest form of democracy and on the other one of the mostrecent. On one side, you have one of the champions of the “Nation State” concept,and on the other, the most advanced, if not the only one, experiment of transnationalpolitical participation.The two institutions also correspond, according to many, to the two visions betweenwhich western democracy should choose its model. In fact, if British do, often,criticize Europe for being too bureaucratic and disconnected with citizens, EUadvocates blame the British for being too focused on economy and cynical.The results seem to say that neither idealism nor pragmatism is sufficient to avoid thedecline. The trend seems to anticipate (as we will develop further) that neither nationstates nor supranational organizations are escaping the crisis of citizens indifference.And it is a paradoxical outcome. Because, on one hand, democracy seems to fall shortof some of its objectives in a society that has recently distinguished itself by3