Democracy and post-politics: "We have a vote but we have no voice"
The Political Theory Group of the University of Azuay - together with the Ecuadorian Association of Political Science - presented on August 7 the talk on democracy and post-politics, given by the environmental engineer Carlos Quizhpe.
During the meeting, the approaches put forward by Chantal Mouffe, a Belgian philosopher and political scientist, were analyzed, who argues that the essence of politics is confrontation and advocates a better democratic exercise.
When speaking of post-politics, the speaker Carlos Quizhpe stated that the popular character of democracy is reduced to merely technical matters, blurring the role of the people and their power in government decisions.
Along the same lines, Diego Jadán, coordinator of the Political Theory Group, pointed out that Ecuadorian democracy is not very inclusive: "The agreements reached by governments are with the elites and not with the people."
For greater democratic inclusion, added the group coordinator, it is necessary to have a representation in which collective political subjects and new identities are created, in this way, there will be a pluralistic society in which the people feel identified with the people. who are in power.
The Belgian philosopher has pointed out that "we have a vote, but we have no voice", which generates a democratic deficit.
"In general, we are participants in democracy only on election day, we need to be taken into account not only when we have to vote, but on a recurring basis," Jadán illustrated.
For Quizhpe, who defended the development of a left-wing populism to improve the future of democracy, the current representation crisis generates forms of reaction and protest that can only be answered with a strengthening of institutions.
“In order to give people a voice, it is not necessary to eliminate democratic institutions, but to transform them; We are not defending a direct democracy in which the people participate in all decisions; what you want to defend is that people have a voice and have good representatives, ”concluded Jadán.
UDA Correspondent
