The Drama Democracy

* A sensational essay on the crisis of confidence in Belgium during the hysterical nineties
*
On the role of the media and the deep divide between the causes of this crisis of confidence and how the press has dealt with it
Political renewal is a failure. Worse, it has allowed politics to degenerate into theatre. Policy becomes chatter, and all of this is grandiloquently called 'communication'.
In this book, Mark Elchardus argues that our democracy is increasingly becoming a 'drama democracy'. Citizens are no longer represented. The media create an image or representation of the citizen. Politicians accept this. They act to the best of their ability in the reality soap that thus arises. As a result, the power of the citizen is diminishing, to the advantage of that of judges, technocrats and individuals and groups without representative value.
The development of our drama democracy cannot be attributed to the ill will of politicians. Society and the people themselves have changed profoundly. Politics and democracy have not yet adapted to this.
At the same time, a one-sided economic globalization causes states and collectivities to shrink. Citizens become consumers. The global economy disrupts and displaces people like cattle or commodities.
Drama politics may deal with the resulting discontent and bitterness in its theatrical and mediagenic way. A better path to populism is almost impossible to pave.