Rights, political community and participation

Across the globe, autocratic regimes create the impression that they are better equipped to manage globalization than the internally divided democracies of the West. They instrumentalize the state as a guarantor of economic growth while suppressing fundamental rights, independent courts, and democratic opposition. At the same time, the rise of populist, post-fascist, and authoritarian parties in Europe demonstrates how democratic cultures of participation are gradually being eroded through the polarizing and emotionally charged dynamics of social media.

In response to these developments, alternative models of participation — such as citizens’ assemblies or citizens’ forums based on random selection and designed to enable engagement without binding mandates — seek to counteract such tendencies. However, these models also face criticism, particularly regarding questions of representativeness and the potential emergence of a “participatory aristocracy.”