Structural Constraints of Democracy in Liberal Democracy in the US as Well as in Europe

Abstract This article analyzes structural constraints of democracy in liberal democracies. First, it shows that contemporary liberal democracies evolved from a political system (inspired by the emergence and the form of the political regime in the US) that was conceived as the antithesis of democracy – it is an internal constraint. Then it analyzes the external constraints that arise from the capitalist economy that contain two features – the so-called structural dependence of the state on capital and the impact of the functioning of capitalist companies and economy on personal development of citizens and on democratic culture in general. It ends with a presentation of different levels of analysis that allow us to see the presidential election as a democratic deficit of liberal democracy, and its correction within one interconnected whole.