Extract
[...] It should also not be forgotten that, in addition to competence, there is also the "feeling of competence" to be distinguished and developed by Gaxie D. In this case, it is a subjective dimension of feeling competent or not. And this feeling is weaker in certain categories of the population (such as young people and women in particular). Finally, as we said earlier, there is a professionalization of politics that allows more people to access new political professions. However, we are gradually witnessing the construction of political elites who are moving away from the social group that their supporters want to represent. [...]
[...] Here, it is a question of preserving public liberties and the fundamental rights of individuals. The free expression of disagreements is the condition of a truly democratic representation. Fourth principle: political decisions are subject to 'the test of discussion'. Any decision by the government must, in theory, be discussed in front of the parliamentary representation, which should allow both to avoid arbitrariness and to improve the 'quality' of the decisions by taking into account the objections and improvements introduced during the deliberative process. [...]
[...] In addition, we can also add the nationalization of political life. In fact, political opinions were mostly at local levels, but especially with the role of national press and the development of parliamentary groups with elected officials gathered under the same label, this nationalization of politics is made possible. Finally, these 'entrepreneurs of politics' will create, according to Garrigou, 'their title to represent' that is to say their legitimacy to present themselves at elections and therefore to represent their electors, which becomes the political programs, especially at the national level. [...]
[...] The second limit is related to the inequalities of politicization and political socialization. Currently, we are in a society stratified according to our social position. Due to social stratification, either the hierarchical relationship between social groups in relation to the power relationships between upper, middle, and lower classes, we can observe that the level of politicization interest or attention paid to the political field) increases strongly with the position of individuals in the social hierarchy. The more agents are socially elevated, the more they declare themselves interested in politics. [...]
[...] This can lead to an immense feeling of disconnection between representatives and represented, leading for example to an increase in absenteeism during elections. Therefore, elections are part of the foundation of representative democracy, however, they have some restrictions, particularly around the notion of citizenship, suffrage, politicization, etc. We can then ask ourselves if it is really possible to be in a democratic regime without a representative. With the recent gilets jaunes movement: with the categorical refusal to form around a representative, it has succeeded in being truly heard, but is it really in a position to function? [...]
