"Votas pero no eliges": la democracia y la crisis de la deuda soberana en la eurozona

espanolEl objetivo de este articulo es analizar el presunto despliegue de la «democracia sin alternativas» en Europa y sus consecuencias para la calidad de las democracias nacionales, especialmente las de la periferia de la zona euro (GIIPS: Grecia, Irlanda, Italia, Portugal y Espana). Los Gobiernos de los paises de la periferia estan adoptando un conjunto de politicas economicas (el llamado «programa de austeridad») que la mayoria de los ciudadanos rechaza y castiga en las urnas. La alternancia en el poder, sin embargo, no esta produciendo un cambio en la politica. Al llegar al poder, los que antes habian estado en la oposicion implementan las mismas e impopulares politicas (u otras muy parecidas) que provocaron la caida del Gobierno anterior. Por lo tanto, la amenaza del castigo electoral no funciona como deberia segun la teoria normativa de la democracia, es decir, como medida disuasoria contra una actuacion gubernamental irresponsable EnglishThe objective of this article is to analyze the alleged unfolding of �democracy without choices� in Europe and its consequences for the quality of national democracies, particu- larly those of the Eurozone periphery �GIIPS: Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain.The argument is, in a nutshell, that the lack of responsiveness of GIIPS national Governments to their respective national constituencies is the reverse of the medal of an excess of responsiveness in core Euro countries, particularly Germany. Governments are trapped between the pressure to be responsive at home and the need to be responsible to their European partners and the European project. If the trade-off of all democratic politics is between responsiveness and responsibility, Euro core countries have clearly opted for responsive- ness �to domestic constituencies� and Eurozone peripheral countries have been forced to be responsible �towards their EU partners and the EU as a whole.As a result, the 2008 financial crisis has led to a three-fold breach inside the EU between core and periphery concerning the pace of economic recovery, the degrees of governmental autonomy and, most im- portant of all, democratic legitimacy. Eurozone peripheral countries are at the losing side of this three-fold breach.