Democracy Today.indb - Universidade do Minho

8
DEMOCRACY TODAY
in concrete local realities that can be closer to the democratic ideal of
liberty, equality and social justice.
This Congress, which is now translated in this volume, was the
first methodological and practical step towards this magnificent task
of conceiving ‘better’ ways of doing democracy or, in other words, it
was the first step in bridging theory and practice, in bringing together
theoretical reflections on conceptual aspects which dominate the
‘democratic discourse’ and, on the other hand, the practical necessity
of finding answers that can be applied to very concrete realities
around the world.
This book has three sections. The first one is devoted to Reflections
on Democratic Theory, expressing many of the concerns that have
dominated the debate for the past decades. In this section you will find
Nuno Coelho’s article entitled Politics and equality in Greek invention of
democracy. In his article, Coelho goes back to the Greek conceptualization
of politics, equality and democracy, arguing that this genetic
approach – philosophical and political – can help us understanding
where and who we are today, both as individuals and political
beings. After Coelho’s article, you will find Demin Duan’s article
entitled Alexis de Tocqueville’s Notion of Political Freedom – A Vision
of Democracy, reflecting the influence of Tocqueville in our contemporary
readings of ‘democracy’, and articulating the ‘liberal’ with
the ‘republican’ traditions along their correspondent approaches
to democracy, freedom and power. Femmy Thewissen, on the other
hand, builds an interesting argument around governance. Her article
entitled Governance through the lens of representation. Confrontation of
governance and government is a journey which clarifies the several
meaning of governance and which places governance in the context
of representative democracy.
The second section is dedicated to Contemporary theories. Opening
this section you will find David Plotke’s article on Democratic Virtues.
Arguing that there is no such thing as ‘minimal’ democracy, only democracy,
Plotke shows how the relationship between different democratic
virtues is not as easy as one initially would imagine. On the contrary,
democratic virtues do not go easily together and the emphasis one
gives to one or another has practical results, leading to quite different
models of democracy.