Abstract

MORA, Marina Requena  and  VICTORIANO, José Manuel Rodríguez. Beyond Representative Democracy: Real Democracy and Social Movements in the Spanish State. Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais [online]. 2017, n.113, pp.3-28. ISSN 2182-7435.  https://doi.org/10.4000/rccs.6642.

Participatory processes are a central element in the theoretical debates on the quality of democracy and its current processes of transformation. If the objective of participation is problematized in theoretical analyses, difficulties increase when analyzing concrete experiences that attempt to articulate the dynamics of participation together with the deepening of democratic principles. We use Jesús Ibáñez to reflect upon this question. First, we examine the crisis of liberal democracy and the problems it entails in order to legitimize a democracy incapable of counteracting the hegemony of markets. Next, we analyze the resurgence of a type of participatory democracy in which institutions serve as the leading players. Finally, we address real democracy, which attributes the role of actor to civil society. We illustrate this question from the analysis of social perceptions about the political situation within the Spanish State.

Keywords : citizen participation; democracy; globalization; social movements; Spain.

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