Michels e la crisi della democrazia – ieri e oggi

Abstract

The article investigates the relation between the crisis of the democratic institutions and Michel’s political thought. In particular it analyses the shortcomings of the priciple of representation, described in Michel’s book “La sociologia del partito politico”. Michel’s radical critique of the representative institutions is studied with regards to the authoritarian and populist attempts to overcome the representative democracy. The main aim of the article is to suggest the usefulness of Michel’s remarks on democracy in order to understand our present crisis of democracy in the European political institutions.