Post-democracy
The term post-democracy was used by Warwick University political scientist Colin Crouch in 2000 in his book "Coping with Post-Democracy". It designates states that operate by democratic systems (elections are held, governments fall, and there is freedom of speech), but whose application is progressively limited. A small elite is taking the tough decisions and co-opts the democratic institutions. Crouch further developed the idea in an article called "Is there a liberalism beyond social democracy?" for the think tank Policy Network and in his subsequent book "The Strange Non-Death of Neo-Liberalism". The term was  used by Crouch to design an evolution within democracies during the 21st century. It is a polemical term because it calls attention to recognized democracies that are losing some of their foundations and evolving towards an aristocratic regime. The term may also denote a general conception of a post-democratic system that may involve other structures of group decision-making and governance than the ones found in contemporary or historical democracy. Definition. By Crouch's definition: Crouch states that we are not "living in a post-democratic society, but that we were moving towards such a condition". Causes. Crouch names  the following reasons: Consequences. As a consequence: The United States. In recent years, the United States has experienced an unprecedented amount of democratic backsliding for a developed, liberal democracy. The pursuit of populist agendas has caused a breakdown in public faith in the government, which showed when Freedom House published their annual index, and the United States lost three points overall, dropping from an 86 to an 83. This idea of countries like the United States failing to live up to democratic ideals is not new. In 2009, Stein Ringen argued that the U.S., along with the United Kingdom, faces  an increasingly mistrustful public, which is reinforced by the role that money plays in deciding what issues are tackled by the federal government, especially while so many citizens face poverty and disenfranchisement. This idea is only maintained by William Galston, who asserts that liberal democracy is and always will be vulnerable, specifically to nationalist interests. Nothing can eradicate these vulnerabilities, they can only be minimized by "wise leadership" which the United States lacked when it mattered most. Solutions. According to Crouch there is an important task for social media in which voters can participate more actively in public debates. In  addition, these voters would have to join advocacy groups for specific interests. The citizens have to reclaim their place in decision making. He calls this post-post-democracy. The Occupy movement was a form of more or less disorganized opposition that grew out of the dissatisfaction with to the power of the banking industry. Belgian historian David van Reybrouck describes in his book "Against elections" the current problems in Western democracy as the "democratic fatigue syndrome". As a solution he advocates a deliberative democracy based on sortition.