ABSTRACT
Recent years have witnessed an intense interest in the recorded decline of democratic legitimacy across Europe and the United States. Study after study documented falling trust in government, governmental programmes, elections, and politicians. Scholars asked two questions: What caused this decline? And, what can be done to revive democracy and democratic legitimacy? Several possible answers were proposed, but one explanation caught the imagination and dominates the debate. Diminishing confidence in democracy and politics is rooted in the decline of civil society and revitalizing civil society is the elixir for reinvigorating democracy.
