It designates states that operate by democratic systems (elections are held, governments fall, and there is freedom of speech), but whose application is progressively limited.
The term may also denote a general conception of a post-democratic system that may involve other structures of group decision-making and governance than the ones found in contemporary or historical democracy.
[2][3][4] By Crouch's definition:[5] "A post-democratic society is one that continues to have and to use all the institutions of democracy, but in which they increasingly become a formal shell.
The energy and innovative drive pass away from the democratic arena and into small circles of a politico-economic elite.
Crouch argues that some forms of populism or direct voice of the people might invigorate democracy, but "there must always be another election, and opposition and government parties alike must have the right to go on debating and using political resources in preparation for that moment".