Models of the Transformation of Democracy: Critical Overview Through a Demand and Supply Framework

Abstract

Seen through the analytical framework of supply and demand, all models of the transformation of democracy agree that supply is expandable and that public demand is active. However, they have very different explanations as to why this is the case. It is a point of contention whether the expansion of supply is caused by the representative, agonistic, cultural, deliberative, participatory or some other “turn”. Another line of argument inquires whether people demand more because the public is fragmented or homogenised.