Democratic Deficit

Natalia Letki

The notion of a democratic deficit refers to an insufficient level of democracy in political institutions and procedures in comparison with a theoretical ideal of a democratic government. The expression democratic deficit may be used to denote the absence or underdevelopment of key democratic institutions, but it may also be used to reflect the pathologies of how these institutions function (e.g., lack of transparency and accountability, technocratic decision making, inadequate participation of citizens in policy making). Evaluations of the level of democratic deficit focus on the procedural aspects of democracy, reflected in the mechanisms of representation and decision making. Therefore, it denotes distortions to the flow of influence from citizens to ...

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