Our democracy is in decline, says classicist and author Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer (1968). To demonstrate this, he wrote a historical novel about Alcibiades, the extravagant Athenian politician and military commander who played a key role in the Peloponnesian War. Alcibiades (450-404 BC) was, at a young age, a student and lover of the philosopher Socrates, but later gained fame as the military commander who achieved great success with the Athenian army in Sparta. After accusations of sacrilege, he defected to the Spartan side and later served as an advisor at a Persian court.

What are the symptoms of the decline of a democracy? And do you see them reflected in the Netherlands?

There's an ancient Greek theory about the three different forms of government, which I put in the book in the words of the sophist Protagoras. According to this theory, every form of government has a positive and a negative counterpart. For example, monarchy has its counterpart in the form of tyranny, and aristocracy in the form of oligarchy. Democracy also has a negative counterpart, which in Greek is called "ochlocracy": the dictatorship of the masses.

I am convinced that we in the Netherlands are in an ochlocracy. A major symptom of this is that politicians are afraid of public opinion. Hardly any politicians have the courage to develop a long-term vision; no one dares to look beyond the next opinion poll.

Your take on pure capitalism vs. social democracy - Open Thread

If you would like to join the discussion, then to add a link or comment to a topic or section, please click on "Reply to this" in one of the following sections:

•   Animal life
•   Book review
•   Culture
•   Ecology - development population growth, struggle for
  survival and effect global warming.
•   Pax Americana  
•   Sea World
•   Tech corner

If you click on "Post a Comment", this will put the link or your comment out of context at the bottom of the page. Please use "Reply to This" to avoid doing that.