Democracy in Luxembourg: A Tale of Political Leadership and Culture

Abstract

Abstract By examining the perspectives and actions of political leaders, this thesis discusses the story of the underexplored success of Luxembourg's democracy. A two-step process facilitates this undertaking: first, employing narrative analysis to capture individual perspectives and experiences and second, assessing the answers to each interview question to identify recurring themes and common ground. Lastly, these themes and patterns are compared to pre-existing research and literature about democratization. The results are presented as a tentative model that aims to visualize the drivers of the success of democracy in Luxembourg. The political landscape of the Grand Duchy is explored through key research questions that study the experiences and perceptions of leading politicians. The central finding of this thesis proposes that the foundation of Luxembourg's democratic tradition lies in collaborative, pragmatic practices and firm adherence to core values such as decency within the country's political culture. These likely stand in a causal relationship with the country's geographical size. The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg has been a remarkable example of state- building and democratic stability. Nonetheless, a lack of institutions offering political science education has aggravated a shortage of academic literature covering the country's political dynamics between World War II and the 2000s. This dearth of research necessitates a more focused examination of Luxembourg's democratic functioning from a political science standpoint. I conducted semi-structured, open-ended interviews with six former political leaders. Between 1970 and 2005, each held one or more ministerial roles. Their accounts are accompanied by an introduction to the political, historical, and economic context of Luxembourg, as well as comparative material to make the subject more approachable for the international reader. Along the way, this study addresses gaps in the literature and contributes to our understanding of the role strong political leadership plays in building democracy, as well as fostering it despite crises. Overall, the thesis seeks to identify and draw attention to the unique factors contributing to Luxembourg's democratic success. This exploration hopes to provide nuanced insights for the purpose of informing both academic research and practical governance.