Introduction to Democracy as a Form of Life

Nowadays, Western societies find themselves in a situation that has been coined as a “crisis of representation” or even as “postdemocracy.” The self-understanding of western societies that is informed by the idea of its citizen’s democratic participation in the shaping of the common good has been severely tested by a growing disenchantment with politics. This expresses itself not only in a growing disinterest in common decision-making but also in an ominous interplay between a decreasing will...