The crisis of political representation: the Portuguese case 2002-2015

Most political science research is concerned with the supply side of politics, i. e. the ability of political actors to attract supporters; instead, citizenship research is frequently interested in politics’ demand side, i. e. what citizens ask from politicians and to what extent are they satisfied with party supply. The present study addresses the evaluation of political parties and politicians by the Portuguese citizenry on the basis of a longitudinal analysis of post-electoral surveys as well as other quantitative data allowing us to measure to which extent such evaluation fits the features of the “crisis of political representation” described in extant literature (Porras Nadales 1996). Indeed, in a very recent article on the concept of Democracy, the Greek political philosopher and politician Georges Contogeorgis brings the issue of the crisis of political representation into focus, by reminding us that “the initial political regime of classic Athens ceased to be fully democratic when it stopped being “the citizens’ assembly” to become increasingly a matter of representation, which is by its composition if not by definition an oligarchic institution distinct from direct participation in the polity. And that was why democracy left Athens in the early 4th century bc” (Contogeorgis 2017).