The focus on reflexive democracy offers a meaningful perspective to reintegrate the fragmented knowledge regarding politics again. This shows that democracy is a complex historico-political concept. Against this background, "representative democracy", "direct democracy", and "deliberative democracy", on the one hand, are no longer disconnected from each other. On the other hand, it becomes possible to articulate with greater precision what "internal opening", "transnational extension", and "civil complexity" of democracy nowadays mean. (edited).