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EINBLICKE
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But to point to the citizens as the sole cause of a crisis of
democracy is entirely unjustified – one need only look at the
years of confrontation over the EU Services Directive, over
Stuttgart 21 or the school reform in Hamburg. It is not only
the Occupy activists and the left-wing splinter groups who
education are almost euphorically promoted and endowed
with public funding. But many of these projects fail to address
the social lines of conflict and the legitimisation deficits. The
mechanisms of social exclusion and the reasons behind the
(
self-) exclusion of a growing number of people from the
arena of politically recognised agents and decision-making
processes are being disregarded. Private commitment, self-
reliance and entrepreneurialism are the new educational
objectives. Not least, they are meant to compensate for the
scaling back of the welfare state.
Quite a fewsocial and education researchers blame the citizens
themselves for these deficits. The citizens are the "real weak
point in our democracy", Werner Patzelt, a political scientist
from Dresden asserts, explaining that the citizens don't un-
derstand the political system and are less and less willing to
participate in political parties and groups. They don't invest
anywhere near as much time and effort in politics as they
would in the purchase of a new car or an iPhone.
Joseph Schumpeter once made a similar diagnosis and re-
commended that political decisions should therefore be left
to experts and expert committees. Researchers now point to
empirical studies that supposedly prove that most citizens
lack the "political literacy", the
necessary basic knowledge
and skills. Their expectations
are too high and they see the
statemerely as a provider of services, with the result that they
are inevitably disappointed by parliamentary processes. By
this logic protest movements are an expression of a desire to
evade responsibility andwithdraw into fun, consumption and
leisure cultures in which even a protest turns into an event.
There have been tangible
changes in Statehood.
…
und Piratin auf einem Parteitag in Chemnitz.
…
and a pirate at a party conference in Chemnitz.
„
Erfolg der Piratenpartei erst als Gegenbewegung zum Abbau demokratischer
Teilhabe verständlich“: Demonstrierender Pirat in Berlin ...
"
The success of the Pirate Party is only comprehensible if seen as a countermovement
against the reduction of democratic participation." A pirate demonstrating in Berlin ...
