Czerulf: Is democracy in a crisis? (Part 3 – Political parties)

View at Germany’s parliament: “Reichstag”

I started my little series about democracy in part 1 with some general considerations. In part 2 I spoke about the aim and the importance of the constitution. I then went on to narrate the German constitutional history. We learned that modern Germany is a parliamentary democracy. National, regional and local assemblies are elected by universal suffrage. Now it’s about time to investigate how does the right to vote translate into action?

Czerulf: Is democracy in a crisis? (Part 2 – The constitution)

“Das Grundgesetz” is Germany’s constitution since 1949

Last Wednesday – in part 1 – I kicked off with some general considerations: the origins of democracy and five fundamental conditions that a functioning democratic system needs to meet. First point on the list: The constitution. I will take Germany as an example, which means that I have to cover about 650 years of history. Lots of stuff but I will try to make it as short and crisp as I possibly can.

Czerulf: Is democracy in a crisis? (Part 1 – General considerations)

Voting – essential part of democracy (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I came across recently few articles that identified a crisis of democracy. Some commentators argue that democracy is already a thing of the past and that the Chinese model (which combines an authoritarian political structure with a 19th-century-type capitalism) is the way forward. I will discuss here in the following weeks a number of different aspects to this question. I will take Germany as an example. We start off today with some general considerations.

Czerulf: Italy – Berlusconi, Imu and what comes next

Silvio Berlusconi (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Flipping through the newspapers one could get the impression that things are going rather well in Italy. Relatively little space is attributed to the issues that mark the current crisis – a depressed economy, an unemployment rate that is rising month on month (specially among young people) and a political system that fails to address all these issues. One would expect that this mix of upsetting facts should dominate the headlines. Instead what keeps the nation moving like nothing else is the possible suspension (or abolition?) of IMU (Imposta Municipale Propria – a property tax) on family homes. Why is that?