Democratization beyond the post-democratic turn: towards a research agenda on new conceptions of citizen participation

Blühdorn, Ingolfur ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1774-5984 and Butzlaff, Felix ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6247-3194 (2020) Democratization beyond the post-democratic turn: towards a research agenda on new conceptions of citizen participation. Democratization, 27 (3). pp. 369-388. ISSN 1351-0347

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Abstract

Following extensive debates about post-democracy and post-politics, scholarly attention has shifted to conceptualizing the ongoing transformation of democracy. In this endeavour, the change in understandings, expectations and functions of political participation is a key parameter. Improving citizen participation is widely regarded as the hallmark of democratization. Yet, a variety of actors are also increasingly ambivalent about democratic institutions and the further expansion of participation. Meanwhile, new forms of participation are gaining in significance – neoliberal activation, the responsibilization of consumers, digital data mining, managed behaviour guided by choice architects – which some believe much improve representation, but which others perceive as a threat to the citizens’ autonomy. This article introduces a special issue focusing on the participation-democratization nexus in well-established democracies in the economically affluent global North. Based on a critical review of popular narratives of post-democracy and post-politics we sketch the notion of the post-democratic turn – which offers a new perspective on emerging forms of participation and in this special issue serves as a conceptual lens for their analysis. We then revisit more traditional conceptualizations of democratic participation which are challenged by the post-democratic turn. The article concludes with an overview of the individual contributions to this special issue.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Post-democracy, post-politics, post-democratic turn, political participation, empowerment, subjectivation, objectivation
Version of the Document:	Published
Depositing User:	Gertraud Novotny
Date Deposited:	05 Mar 2020 11:53
Last Modified:	05 Mar 2020 11:53
Related URLs:	Publisher
FIDES Link:	https://bach.wu.ac.at/d/research/results/94301/
URI:	https://epub.wu.ac.at/id/eprint/7515

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