Ecologists and Democracy in Belgium: An Analysis of Party Manifestos

An increasing gap characterizes the relationship between citizens and policy-makers in Europe. Citizens do not only lose confidence in their representatives but, more broadly so, in democracy and democratic functioning. Consequently, new political parties perform increasingly better during elections. New decision-making processes - rooted in participatory or deliberative democracy - are also gradually considered as means to revitalize and irrigate the representative system. This paper aims at developing a better understanding of the democratic preferences of the Belgian Green political parties... Mehr ...