The Debt Crisis as Crisis of Democracy

Abstract

This is a commentary on the debt crisis and its impact on the relationship between politics and the state in the US and Europe. Democratic institutions of the state face a crisis of legitimacy. They are not trusted to deliver radical transformations in the orientation of liberal capitalism. Technocrats administer austerity and ‘‘bailouts’’ while the Occupy movement generates a political momentum without consensus on what is to be demanded of law and the state. Urging engagement with the state and the necessity of hegemonic demands, this essay sketches the distinct political landscapes and trajectories in the US and Europe. It suggests that the left must engage with the European project as a significant post-national formation.