| dc.description | Social movements do not limit themselves to presenting demands to
decision makers; they also more or less explicitly express a fundamental
critique of conventional politics, thus shifting their endeavours from
politics itself to meta-politics (Offe 1985). Their ideas resonate with ‘an
ancient element of democratic theory that calls for an organisation
of collective decision making referred to in varying ways as classical,
populist, communitarian, strong, grass-roots, or direct democracy
against a democratic practice in contemporary democracies labelled as
realist, liberal, elite, republican, or representative democracy’ (Kitschelt
1993, p. 15). Their critique has traditionally addressed the representative
element of democracy, with calls for citizen participation. | en_US |
