Articulo: Journal of Urban Research (Jan 2010)
L’espace de la représentation (politique) et l’espace de la participation
Abstract
A thorough assessment of participation requires that it be recast within the larger debates on democracy. Most notably, it must take into account the disagreement between advocates and critics of parliamentary democracy, a divide almost always underlying current debates on participation. Ultimately, doesn’t parliamentary democracy reproduce the flaws of the most elitist political regimes? As political disillusion gains ground, an increasing number of citizens dream of having their voices heard and choices made clear without the intermediary action of elected representatives. Have parliaments and assemblies thus become useless? With no doubt, the two forms of political expression, representation and participation, do not exclude each other on principle. Some political theorists even think that they complement and enrich each other, thus effecting a movement towards a more thorough global democracy. It remains unclear though whether such possible complementarity means that representation and participation can simply be added and that they never compete with each other, even when underpinned by different legitimacies. The concrete way participation works may ensure some measure of success, and yet cannot settle debates on political representation or weaken our democratic imagination.
