democracy - Vision the Italian Think Tank

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5. DOES TELEVISION STILL MATTER? THEOPPORTUNITIES AND THE RISKS OF THE “MANY TOMANY” MODEL (to be developed)…40
THE FUTURE OF DEMOCRACY: VISION 2020Is there still a future for democracy? Actually it almost seems that the statement canbe turned upside down and that in fact it can be said that if there is a future foradvanced societies, such a future is with democracy.Nevertheless if democracy is to be saved, we have to – with courage and even withcreativity – commit ourselves to a radical effort to modernise its processes.In reality the reasoning that we have so far developed is based on a series ofhypotheses that have to be explained.The strongest hypothesis can be maybe found in the same definition of “democracy”that we are assuming.It is a hypothesis that in reality belongs to the classical elaborations of the conceptand that yet too often is forgotten, leaving room for demagogy the enemy ofdemocracy.We do, in fact, assume that “democracy” is not “citizens’ government” (it neverwas, maybe not even when Athenians gathered in the Agorà), but competition.Loyal, not traumatic, based on the merits and therefore on the ability to conquercitizens’ consensus – but still competition between alternative elites.The problem democracy is facing, is not that it is not any longer the “government ofcitizens” (because it never was that), but that elites are not even competing any longerfor political power.The politicians’ class has become a professional order. Not so different fromorthodontists or accountants or solicitors. A professional order, not even an elite.Unable to “represent” a significant part of the interests and even less to aggregatetalents around a project. An interest group, in fact, that defends itself in a corporateway and that because of a lack of real competition and exchange becomes ever lessable to produce innovation or to manage growing complexity.Self exclusion of a significant part of the generation to which Vision belongs to, iswhat has inspired many of the proposed arguments.Tied to this definition, there is also the idea that in reality if we want to savedemocracy, we have to step away from the belief that in democracy equality isartificially obtained by compressing “institutional” moments of participation. Wehave to increase the opportunities, instead; we do need to unlash, multiply, diversifythe channels to access politics; we just need to allow every body to participatefollowing her own interests, timing, skills; we just need to permit the utilization ofthe potential that technologies provide and societies demand.We do have to democratize democracy because forward is the only way to save itfrom an increasing irrelevance.The crisis of democracy is due to a lack of it, a shortage of its quantity and diffusionrelatively to what one would expect from an Information Society.41
Page 1 and 2: BACK TO DEMOCRACY 1In progress pape
Page 3 and 4: General elections UKShare of eligib
Page 5 and 6: 2. the inequalities; if we try, mor
Page 7 and 8: The current limits of democracy’s
Page 9 and 10: DEVELOPING AN INFORMATION BASED THE
Page 11 and 12: The changes of a democracy that ‘
Page 13 and 14: minimum expectations that are assoc
Page 15 and 16: 1. ARE ELECTIONS STILL A LEGITIMATE
Page 17 and 18: Such a loss of information is, in t
Page 19: The issue we are talking about is n
Page 24 and 25: of a much celebrated choice of bein
Page 26 and 27: democracy today and specifically of
Page 28 and 29: decide to divide her/ his own vote
Page 30 and 31: It would then be much more realisti
Page 32 and 33: Iraq). The vote was “obviously”
Page 34 and 35: Similar innovations may then be exp
Page 36 and 37: situations are not equivalent, and
Page 38 and 39: 3. ARE CONSTITUTIONS STILL USEFUL?
Page 42: We, in fact, also, think that the d

democracy - Vision the Italian Think Tank

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