Representative democracy is nowadays the most spread and legitimated political system in the world. In the last decades a wide consensus was created about representative democracy (free elections, universal suffrage, freedom of thought, etc.) as the best and most perfect form of government, this ideological vision becoming an almost absolute and unquestionable value. This thematic area includes the study of alternative forms of democracy, in which voting is neither the beginning nor the final goal of democracy: participative, deliberative and communitarian forms enacted both at local and national levels that directly interpellate representative democracy. The aim of the thematic area is to reveal the democratic diversity of the world, and explore the potential of these participative and deliberative experiences in the creation of new and more demanding forms of political articulation and decision.
Below, some contributions to expand the discussion.
Letters on Dignity and Democracy written by a working group of participants to the workshop of Popular University of Social Movements (UPMS) held in Tunis on 24-25 March 2013. File available here: Letters from Tunis on Dignity and Demo...
22 Nov, 2013, 09:12 Audio in Portuguese: http://www.rtp.pt/noticias/index.php?article=697661&tm=8&layout=123&visual=61 ...
A commentary by Professor Maria Paula Meneses (CES/ALICE Project) about the recent events in Mozambique and the next elections on 20 November. Alternative information for a more complete and rigorous point of view about an important part of the current political reality ...
The conference 'The revolution of indignation and democratic struggles' (A revolução das indignações e as lutas democráticas) was held with Boaventura de Sousa Santos, Frei Betto and the Marilena Chaui. The meeting was organised by Cortez Editora. Topic of the discussion was human rights and the protests happ...
"Create the Counter-University in the University" (Crear la contra-universidad dentro de la universidad) Boaventura and Enrique Dussel at UACM, Mexico. 11 October 2013. Video in Spanish. ...
