Herramientas para un chequeo de dinámica democrática

Abstract

Democracy finds itself at a crossroads. On the one hand it is almost the only guarantee that
in the century we have just embarked upon, all societies may be able to solve their problems in a
less traumatic way than in the twentieth century. On the other hand, democracy threatens to
become part of an empty and legitimating discourse for practices which are not at all democratic.
It is, therefore, necessary to bring the theory and practice of democracy up to date. In this paper
its dynamics are analysed starting out from four “objectives” (political democracy, economicbusiness
democracy, democracy in gaining access to knowledge, and environmental democracy)
and three “principles” (delegation of will, subjective implication and the principle of plurality of
options). These seven check points could prove more useful than the usual methodologies for
diagnosing the health of democratic and participatory dynamics in contemporary societies.
These dynamics can only become consolidated if principles and objectives stop evolving separately,
and begin to reciprocate and strengthen one another mutually, and a civic culture and a social
practice of democratic maximalism start to prevail.