The Crisis of Democracy: Report on the Governability of Democracies to the Trilateral Commission (Triangle Papers)

Chapter I - Introduction
I. The Current Pessimism About Democracy (1)
II. The Challenges Confronting Democratic Government (3)

Chapter II - Western Europe (by Michel Crozier)
I. Are European Democracies Becoming Ungovernable? (11)
1. The Overload of the Decision-Making Systems
2. Bureaucratic Weight and Civic Irresponsibility
3. The European Dimension
II. Social, Economic and Cultural Causes (20)
1. The Increase of Social Interaction
2. The Impact of Economic Growth
3. The Collapse of Traditional Institutions
4. The Upsetting of the Intellectual World
5. The Mass Media
6. Inflation
III. The Role and Structure of Political Values (39)
1. The Values Structure and the Problem of Rationality
2. Core Political Beliefs
3. The Impact of Social, Economic and Cultural Changes on the Principles of Rationality and on the Core Political Beliefs
4. Traditional Factors as a Counterweight
5. The Risks of Social and Political Regression
IV. Conclusions: European Vulnerability (52)

Chapter III - The United States (by Samuel P. Huntington)
I. The Viability and governability of American Democracy (59)
II. The Expansion of Governmental Activity (65)
III. The Decline in Governmental Authority (74)
1. The Democratic Challenge to Authority
2. Decline in Public Confidence and Trust
3. The Decay of the Party System
4. The Shifting Balance Between Government and Opposition
IV. The Democratic Distemper: Consequences (102)
V. The Democratic Distemper: Causes (106)
VI. Conclusion: Toward a Democratic Balance (113)

Chapter IV - Japan (by Joji Watanuki)
I. Japanese Democracy's Governability (119)
1. External Conditions 2. Domestic Conditions and Capabilities
II. Changing Values, New Generations and Their Impact on the Governability of Japanese Democracy (138)
1. Political Beliefs
2. Social and Economic Values
III. Consequences for and Future Perspectives on the Governability of Japanese Democracy (149)
1. Time Lag
2. Decline of Leadership and Delay of Decisions
3. Vagaries of Urban, Educated Nonpartisans
4. The Place of the Communists in the Multiparty System
5. What Will Happen in the 1980s?

Chapter V - Conclusion
I The Changing Context of Democratic Government (157)
II. Consensus Without Purpose: The Rise of Anomic Democracy (158)
III. The Dysfunctions of Democracy (161)
1. The Delegitimiation of Authority
2. The Overloading of Government
3. The Disaggregation of Interests
4. Parochialism in International Affairs
IV. Variations Among Regions (168)

Appendices
Appendix I - Discussion of Study during Plenary Meeting of The Trilateral Commission - Kyoto, May 31, 1975 (173)
A. Arenas for Action
B. Excerpts of Remarks by Ralf Dahrendorf
C. Discussion of the Study
Appendix II - Canadian Perspectives on the Governability of Democracies - Discussion in Montreal, May 16, 1975 (203)