La participación política en la teoría democrática: De la modernidad al siglo XXI

Abstract

A crisis of legitimacy concerning the mechanism of political representation justifies a critical analysis regarding the unsustainable superiority of political representation over the real and effective participation of citizens in State decision-making institutions. The current paper provides an analysis of the role and normative strength of political participation, within the context of the different democratic theoretical models developed by Political Science. The paper pursues two related goals: (a) to highlight the inadequacy of political representation as the unique motor of democratic systems; and (b) to justify the benefits — based on the different theories comprising participatory democratic theory — of reinforcing political participation of citizens within the State’s decision-making processes and institutions.