Between Facts and Norms - Contributions to a ... - Blogs Unpad

8Civil Society and the Political Public SphereIn the early postwar period, the sociological study of democracy led .to a theory of pluralism that still linked normative models ofdemocracy with so-called "realist" approaches, that is, with economictheory on the one hand and systems theory on the other. Ifone disregards for the moment the recent revival of institutionalistapproaches,1 then one can hardly avoid the impression that asdemocratic theory has developed, the idealistic content of normativetheories has been evaporating under the sun of social science.It was, in any case, only the liberal model of democracy-hence thenormatively least demanding-that offered sociology a point ofcontact. The sociological enlightenment seems to recommend adisillusioning, if not downright cynical, view of the political process.It primarily focuses our attention on places where normatively"illegitimate" power forces its way into the constitutionally regulatedcirculation of power. If one takes the administrative systemorthe "state apparatus"-as the point of reference, then thepolitical public sphere and the parliamentary complex representthe input side, where the social power of organized interests entersthe legislative process. On its output side, the administration againencounters the resistence of social subsystems and large organizationsthat bring their power into the implementation process. Theautonomy of social power vis-a-vis the democratic process fosters inturn endogenous tendencies in the administrative complex tobecome increasingly autonomous. Thus an increasingly independentadministrative power joins forces with a social power affectingboth the input and the output side. Together they form a counter-