THE CHALLENGES AHEAD
If elections alone qualify as representative democracy, then it is hard to find good arguments against the critics of contemporary democracy who seek to unmask the role of the people as a mere myth, and point to the oligarchic degeneration and corruption of electoral democracy. Such criticism depends on an institutional history of representative government that has not been substantively edited since the eighteenth century. Moreover, the suggestion that we extend the meaning of democratic representation to include the informal, discursive character of a pluralistic public sphere of associations, political movements, and opinions risks looking like an ideological refurbishment, functional to the new legitimation strategies of political elites. Indeed, almost without exception, it remains the case that only an elected political elite has both deliberative and decision-making power, unlike the citizens, whose formal freedom to discuss and criticize proposals and policies does not ensure that their opinions will affect legislation and policy making.
THE CHALLENGES AHEAD
If elections alone qualify as representative democracy, then it is hard to find good arguments against the critics of contemporary democracy who seek to unmask the role of the people as a mere myth, and point to the oligarchic degeneration and corruption of electoral democracy. Such criticism depends on an institutional history of representative government that has not been substantively edited since the eighteenth century. Moreover, the suggestion that we extend the meaning of democratic representation to include the informal, discursive character of a pluralistic public sphere of associations, political movements, and opinions risks looking like an ideological refurbishment, functional to the new legitimation strategies of political elites. Indeed, almost without exception, it remains the case that only an elected political elite has both deliberative and decision-making power, unlike the citizens, whose formal freedom to discuss and criticize proposals and policies does not ensure that their opinions will affect legislation and policy making.
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