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In the public debate and amongst scientists anxiety prevails concerning the situation of modern parliamentary democracy regarding nearly all established of nearly democracies. The concern focuses on the electoral loss of middle parties and heavily fluctuating election results, and the rise of radical Left and Right, where words such as pallet democracy, crisis and Weimar republic are used. The author sketches the outlines of different research directions he studied regarding European politics: voter behavior; decreasing importance of the Left-Right antagonism; decreasing political faith; increasing numbers of extreme Right parties. This to study more closely the different aspects of the alleged crisis of European party democracies (do citizens have unrealistically high expectations of government; the evolution from cartel parties to campaign parties, including the growing importance of the media; lack of party representation for large groups of citizens). Foremost, the author mentions that neo-liberal economic policies of the European Union do not parallel public opinion of EU member states. Figures. O. van Zijl

A review essay on books by (1) Jacques A. A. van Doorn, Duits socialisme. Het falen van de sociaal-democratie en de triomf van het nationaal-socialisme [German Socialism. The Failure of Social Democracy and the Triumph of National Socialism] Amsterdam: Mets & Schilt, 2007); (2) Cas Mudde, Populist Radical Right Parties in Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge U Press, 2007); & (3) Jan Blommaert, De Crisis van de Democratie. Commentaren op Actuele Politiek ([The Crisis of Democracy Comments on Contemporary Politics] Berchem: EPO, 2007).

Internal dispute, the crisis surrounding the war in Iraq, arguments concerning the financial perspectives for 2007-2013 and a double negative result of the referenda (in France and the Netherlands) concerning the European Constitution, mean a crisis for the EU. In the year and a half which have expired between 2005 and 2007, many plans have progressed slightly, but little have been concretized. In defense of Prime Minister Verhofstadt's "The United States of Europe", on socioeconomic policies, technological cooperation, unified justice, security policies, diplomacy, and a European army -- a plan that has not found its way to either the public or high political discussions. It is suggested to take it up with a limited number of member states, so that other countries will follow later. In general, the author reproaches European politicians lack of emotion: more open conflicts of Left against Right, large against small, swiftly and non-too-soft -- therein lies the nature of democracy, and therefore also the future of European politics. Figures, References. O. van Zijl

"Met de stichting van de Weimarrepubliek in november 1918 werd de eerste democratische staatsvorm in Duitsland een feit. Een lang leven was haar echter niet gegund. Al vanaf haar geboorte kende deze republiek veel tegenstanders die werden gesterkt in hun ideeën door samenzweringstheorieën, de ondertekening van het Verdrag van Versailles en diverse crises van economische en politieke aard. De Beurskrach van eind 1929 bleek de nekslag voor de republiek - vanaf dat moment kon de ondergang van de toch al instabiele democratie niet meer worden afgewend met als gevolg dat op 23 maart 1933 Adolf Hitler de macht greep en begon met de uitbouw van zijn Derde Rijk. Dit boek schetst de situatie ten tijde van de Weimarrepubliek en gaat specifiek in op de vraag of de rechtstheorie van enkele hoofdrolspelers (Hans Kelsen, Carl Schmitt, Hermann Heller en Rudolf Smend) aanknopingspunten biedt ter verdediging van de democratie tegen vijandige tendensen. Hoewel dit boek zich primair richt op de Weimarrepubliek, is de centrale thematiek van zowel de druk op als afbrokkeling van de democratische staatsvorm en het verval richting totalitarisme onverminderd actueel."--(Provided by vendor.)