| Description: |
The following pages review properties of duopolistic competition à la Schumpeter, consensus democracy à la Lijphart, and circumstances in which these forms of governance can result in the formation of a supply-side cartel. The examples of Austria, Switzerland and Northern Ireland show how government by cartel can generate protest and even disaffection among a substantial fraction of the electorate. Given that cartel-and-protest politics appear to be the exception rather than the rule in contemporary Europe, the concluding section examines supply side, demand side and institutional obstacles to European democracies being taken over by a governing cartel.
|
