Epilogue

Abstract

Abstract The epilogue provides a birds-eye view on where European politics have gone in the past two decades, connecting the decline of the people’s party with the growing sentiments of democratic crisis which are gripping many people in Western Europe, today. It argues that a historical perspective is vital to understand why the void created by the demise of the people’s parties in the heart of our party systems creates feelings of democratic uncertainty and crisis. People in Western Europe have only known one stable model of democracy, people’s party democracy, because, despite their many shortcomings, only the people’s parties proved able to balance some of the tensions inherent in democratic government. However, while it seems as if the people’s party’s decline cannot be stopped, this does not mean the end of democracy as such. The people’s party was the answer to democracy’s problems in the twentieth century, but history shows it is not democracy’s default option. One does not need to be nostalgic about the demise of the people’s party. Our own century calls for new organizations, institutions, and ideas.