Monograph

La democrazia dei moderni

Storia di una crisi
  • Dino Costantini,

Even though the crisis of the 'real' democratic institutions is increasingly evident, the democratic idea continues to be almost universally considered the only possible guarantee of the legitimacy of political systems. This apparent paradox reminds that, as Hans Kelsen already recognized, the worst risks for democracy originate from its ideological successes. It is precisely its establishment as a unanimously shared «watchword» that risks transforming democracy into a label lacking all historical depth and political urgency. By investigating the modern concept of democracy against the background of the institutional transformations that have accompanied its development, this work aims to deconstruct that aura of necessity with which present-day 'real' democracies love to be surrounded. Through an active comparison with the classics, the author takes into consideration some of the most trenchant critiques that modern democracy has attracted from the period of its invention to date, rounding off with an analysis of the present post-democratic reduction of institutions in the prime democracies. While recalling how the form historically assumed by the democratic institutions has always been the result of heated political debate, this book invites us to rethink the forms of democratic representation outside all naïve, pseudo-naturalistic modes of understanding: thus it would like to help recommence that process of invention of which a democracy not reduced to self-idolatry must consist.

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Dino Costantini

Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Italy

Dino Costantini teaches sociological theories at the Ca' Foscari University of Venice. With a PhD in political philosophy and political sciences, he has studied in Venice, Pisa and Paris. Among his recent publications we may recall Multiculturalismo alla francese? Dalla colonizzazione all'immigrazione (FUP, Florence 2009) and Mission civilisatrice. Le rôle de l'histoire coloniale dans la construction de l'identité politique française (La Découverte, Paris 2008).
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  • Publication Year: 2012
  • Pages: 190

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  • Publication Year: 2012
  • Pages: 190

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Bibliographic Information

Book Title

La democrazia dei moderni

Book Subtitle

Storia di una crisi

Authors

Dino Costantini

Peer Reviewed

Number of Pages

190

Publication Year

2012

Copyright Information

© 2012 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IT

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Publisher Name

Firenze University Press

DOI

10.36253/978-88-6655-231-4

ISBN Print

978-88-6655-230-7

eISBN (pdf)

978-88-6655-231-4

eISBN (xml)

978-88-9273-546-0

Series Title

Strumenti per la didattica e la ricerca

Series ISSN

2704-6249

Series E-ISSN

2704-5870

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