Ripensare la democrazia: elementi dalla tradizione repubblicana

The essay builds on the renewed attention to liberal democracy – sparked by the rise of illiberal democracy, both as a conceptual category and as a political project – to revisit a fundamental question in political philosophy and theory: what do we mean when we speak of democracy? From this vantage point, I contend that the debate has been dominated by the minimal or procedural definition of democracy. By exploring its historical and theoretical foundations and reflecting on a critical challenge that has emerged from it, this paper aims to sustain how certain elements drawn from the republican tradition – particularly concerning civic representation and citizens’ participation in public life – may contribute to rethinking contemporary democracy.