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Krisentheorien der Demokratie: Unregierbarkeit, Spätkapitalismus und Postdemokratie

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  • Schäfer, Armin
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    Abstract

    Dieser Aufsatz greift die in den Siebzigerjahren entwickelten Argumente zur Unregierbarkeit einerseits und zum Spätkapitalismus andererseits auf und befragt sie nach ihrer heutigen Relevanz. Beide Denkschulen erkannten eine Überforderung des Staats. Während linke Autoren die Ursache in den Widersprüchen des Kapitalismus sahen, machten Konservative die Anspruchsinflation von Transferempfängern und die Überdehnung demokratischer Partizipation verantwortlich. Anhand empirischer Trends aus den OECD-Staaten wird dargestellt, wie der Staat seit der Unregierbarkeitsdebatte gesellschaftliche Ansprüche abwehrt, indem er dem Markt mehr Geltung verschafft und die eigenen Steuerungsansprüche reduziert. Gemessen an den damaligen Prognosen hat der Staat Handlungsfähigkeit gewonnen. Dadurch ist jedoch der Ansehensverlust der Politik nicht gestoppt, sondern beschleunigt worden. Keine der beiden Denkschulen übersteht die Durchsicht ihrer Argumente unbeschadet. Doch sind vor allem die Argumente der Neomarxisten an die aktuelle Diskussion über den Übergang zur Postdemokratie anschlussfähig. -- This paper revisits arguments about ungovernability and late capitalism developed in the seventies to inquire into their current usefulness. Both theories noted government overload. Neomarxists saw the reason in the contradictions of late capitalism, while conservatives held rising expectations and undue participation responsible. Looking at long-term empirical trends in OECD countries helps to understand how governments have since fended off societal expectations by expanding markets and reducing their own ambitions. Although the state has regained some capacity to govern in the course of due process, this has not reversed but actually reinforced the contemporary disenchantment with politics. Neither school of thought can be applied to the current situation unmodified. However, recent arguments about the move to post-democracy pick up central themes of the neomarxists.

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    Bibliographic Info

    Paper provided by Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in its series MPIfG Discussion Paper with number 08/10.

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    Date of creation: 2008
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    Handle: RePEc:zbw:mpifgd:0810

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    1. Castles, Francis G., 2006. "The growth of the post-war public expenditure state: long-term trajectories and recent trends," TranState Working Papers 35, University of Bremen, Collaborative Research Center 597: Transformations of the State.
    2. Nordhaus, William D, 1975. "The Political Business Cycle," Review of Economic Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 169-90, April.
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