Why top politicians are pessimistic or optimistic about democracy and its evolution

Amid widespread concerns about the crisis of democracy, scant scholarly attentionhas been given to the views of elite politicians who are at the helm of democracyand, for instance, have the ability to halt democratic erosion and improve citizens’support for democracy. In this paper we addresses this important gap byinvestigating whether and why top politicians in Belgium and Australia areoptimistic or pessimistic about democracy and its evolution. Drawing on 44 in-depth interviews with party leaders and ministers, we conduct a qualitative contentanalysis to examine the reasons behind elites’ optimism or pessimism about how“their” democracy is evolving. From their reflections, we learn that there is quitesome variation in politicians’ views but that many, especially in Belgium, arepessimistic about how democracy evolves. The main source of pessimism stemsfrom the tension between citizens’ expectations and politicians’ ability to deliver onthese expectations. Elites say that politicians these days tend to overpromise whatthey can deliver, and citizens – fueled by (social) media and extremist oppositionforces – are viewed as harboring unrealistic expectations. Yet, while top politiciansare ultimately responsible for shaping democracy, they do not seem to takeresponsibility for halting the crisis of democracy.