Abstract

The current situation of the regimes of representative democracy is one in which those who govern are convinced that they have to take steps to renew the link between them and the governed and at the same time contend that handing over the prerogatives which are the preserve of State technicians and administrators to ordinary citizens is an unrealistic, harmful and even dangerous undertaking. This article considers the nature and soundness of a demand for a truly deliberative democracy emanating from these groups of citizens who devise, organize and implement what might be called autonomous political practices which reach far beyond participation mechanisms as they claim the key role ordinary people have to play in political matters and in fostering the democratization of democracy.