Representación política y democracia deliberativa. ¿Qué puede significar hoy la participación política?

Abstract

Proponents of deliberative democracy have defended participatory conceptions of democracy, inclusive participation, and an emphasis on public discussion, reasoning, and judgment. However, one of the main challenges of the deliberative theories is the development of a feasible institutional design. In other words, why, how and where should we participate? Given the new experiences and theoretical developments, we are at an excellent juncture to proceed with a reevaluation of the set of problems posed by self-government and political participation. In this sense, the most important task is to establish the feasibility of this model of legitimacy and its institutions. Thus, the purpose here is to define, firstly, the political and institutional requirements of these “real” deliberative processes, and, secondly, the delimitation between deliberation and the main elements of our representative government.