Irrationality, populism and polarization: Crisis of democracy?
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Abstract
Democracy is going through uncertain times. This diagnosis—widespread in academic and political circles—specifies three leading causes: the irrationality of some actors, populism, and polarization. These causes are assumed to have direct and purely negative effects. This article aims to show that these concepts are complex and sometimes imprecise. Irrationality cannot be imputed unambiguously, and it is difficult to delimit a unidirectional link between the three concepts and democracy. Although their adverse effects cannot be ignored, their interaction with
democracy comprises variations and nuances. After analyzing each concept, we briefly consider their joint and contrasting effects on democracy.
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Revista Mexicana de Sociología por Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México se distribuye bajo una Licencia Creative Commons Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivar 4.0 Internacional.
Basada en una obra en http://revistamexicanadesociologia.unam.mx/index.php/rms/.
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