Abstract

Democracy today is in search of a new start. The conclusion of the present article is based on the analysis of democracy's contemporary crisis. Considered from a historical perspective, Western liberal democracy is the result of an interplay between three vectors of autonomy: politics, i. e. the constitution of the sovereign (nation) state, law, i. e. the protection and warranty of individual rights, and socio-historical dynamics, i. e. the orientation towards society's common future. As an effect of the far-reaching (social) emancipation of the individual, being itself the result of the development of the welfare state, the accent in contemporary democratic regimes has radically shifted towards the rights of the individual. Consequently, the dimensions of politics and socio-historical dynamics have become completely obfuscated. By the same token, contemporary democracy tends to destroy two of its historical cornerstones on behalf of one of them: the guaranteeing of the individuals rights. It may be clear that this present-day development displays itself as a major crisis of democracy, without implying, however, the end of it. Democracy today is rather in search of a new start, as was stated at the beginning