Is there a crisis of democracy? At one level democracy is always in crisis, and as authoritative historians of representative democracy note, there has never been a period in the evolution of representative democracy when someone somewhere has not declared democracy to be in crisis. What is unusual in the current conjuncture is the degree of consensus underpinning the analysis. In the past those that were shrieking 'Fire!' tended to be in a minority—oddball figures, radicals and zealots. Today, it would be easier to assemble those who didn't think something fundamental was amiss than those who did. Political scientists, not noted for alarmist tendencies, huddle in conferences entitled 'Representation and Renewal', 'The party's over?', and so forth. The minor publishing industry has sprung up to examine the contours of the crisis and where it is heading. Texts already pick over the entrails of the 'dead' democratic body and our 'post-democratic future. Nor is the sense of crisis confined to those with a particular political leaning. Liberals, conservatives and Marxists agree that at some level or other representative democracy is in the doldrums. Where they disagree is what to do about it. But let's ponder for a moment what is peculiar about this particular conjuncture.

https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Senate/Powers_practice_n_procedures/pops/Papers_on_Parliament_66/The_Contemporary_Crisis_of_Representative_Democracy