The main threat to democracy is not violence or corruption or inefficiency, but simplicity. From the point of view of the theory of democracy, this book offers an update of our political concepts, which were thought in a time of relative social and political simplicity. This theoretical deficit corresponds to a political practice that simplifies and impoverishes our democracies. This book is aimed at those who do not believe in simple answers, but do not want to despair in the face of the complexity of the problems. It formulates a theory of democracy and government for the 21st century based on the assumption that the most promising renewal of our democracies will be the result of making them more complex.

La democracia sólo es posible gracias a un aumento de la complejidad de la sociedad, pero hoy en día esa misma complejidad parece distanciarnos de la propia democracia. Entonces ¿cómo podemos conseguir una política que nos resulte más comprensible? Hay un claro desajuste entre lo que una democracia nos presupone a los ciudadanos y nuestra capacidad para cumplir con esas exigencias. En la actualidad, el origen de algunos de los principales problemas políticos reside en el hecho de que la democracia necesita unos actores que ella misma es incapaz de producir. Sin una ciudadanía activa y participativa, formada e informada, que entienda lo que se debate en el espacio público de forma que pueda intervenir en él, es imposible hablar de calidad democrática. Lo que plantea aquí Daniel Innerarity es que la comprensión de la democracia no pasa por el recurso a los «expertos», el incremento de la delegación o la renuncia del control popular, si no por el fortalecimiento de la cooperación y la organización institucional de la inteligencia colectiva.

What is more paradoxically democratic than a people exercising their vote against the harbingers of the rule of law and democracy? What happens when the will of the people and the rule of law are at odds? Some commentators note that the presence of illiberal political movements in the public arena of many Western countries demonstrates that their democracy is so inclusive and alive that it comprehends and countenances even undemocratic forces and political agendas. But what if, on the contrary, these were the signs of the deconsolidation of democracy instead of its good health? What if democratically elected regimes were to ignore constitutional principles representing the rule of law and the limits of their power? With contributions from judges and scholars from different backgrounds and nationalities this book explores the framework in which this tension currently takes place in several Western countries by focusing on four key themes: - The Rule of Law: presenting a historical and theoretical reconstruction of the evolution of the Rule of Law; - The People: dealing with a set of problems around the notion of 'people' and the forces claiming to represent their voice; - Democracy and its enemies: tackling a variety of phenomena impacting on the traditional democratic balance of powers and institutional order; - Elected and Non-Elected: focusing on the juxtaposition between judges (and, more generally, non-representative bodies) and the people's representation.

This open access volume analyses the development of democracy at different levels of governance (from local to global). The Basque search for an institutional and democratic model that adapts to its social needs and solves its problems offers an interesting perspective for analyzing the way in which democracy is seeking new forms of materialization from the local to the global. The volume is divided into four parts. The chapters in Part I analyze the tensions between the neoliberal vision of democracy and the voices contesting it, with projections at different levels of government. The chapters in Part II focus on the emerging framework and scales of Western democracy. The chapters in Part III present new forms of citizen participation, paying special - though not exclusive - attention to new practical strategies for Basque society. The volume concludes with a block of chapters on the relevance of reviewing the methodological and epistemological frameworks from which knowledge about democracy and mechanisms of citizen participation is generated (Part IV). By delving deeper into the idea and practice of democratic governance, this volume will be of interest to researchers and students from all disciplines of politics, international relations, sociology and law.

We tend to understand vulnerability in one of two ways: (1) the measure of everything that happens to us, or (2) that it legitimizes the current discourses and the halo of authority that fashion grants. However, we should think of vulnerability as being affectable both to and by others. In On Vulnerability: A Philosophical Anthropology Miquel Seguró Mendlewicz projects vulnerability as a condition of human life and the central concept to understand our existential position in the world. The philosophical journey is structured around two fundamental areas: the existential reality of vulnerability (its pathos) and the decision to integrate it and live it as an ethical and political reality (its ethos). Using the work of René Descartes, whose philosophy the author presents as conducive to meditating on vulnerability, Seguró Mendlewicz proposes a philosophical reflection that projects vulnerability as a condition of human life in all its magnitudes. Therefore, this book explores all facets of vulnerability, the real impact of what being vulnerable means, and the dangers implied when something becomes trendy.

Focusing on the processes of political socialisation and democratisation that took place in Spain during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this book brings together specialists who propose the need to rethink the contemporary history of democracy in Spain to build a new narrative. To do so, the authors go down to the local level, where they are able to trace a political culture that forged the foundations of a process of political "modernization" much more complex than what conventional historiography has conveyed, even though it was not always transferred institutionally to the national level. The idea of a rural Spain that was backward, apolitical, violent and unprepared for democracy gives way to a more interesting history which, while recognising the peculiarities of the country and the important limitations to democracy, shows examples that could help build a new narrative closer those of other neighbouring countries. Aimed at contemporary historians interested in Spain and Europe, the book also addresses the debates faced by other social scientists on the concept of democracy. This dialogue between history, sociology and political science is particularly present in a special final chapter featuring a discussion of democracy and its application to Spanish history.