Abstract: Social movements are increasingly considered as relevant actors in theorizations about democracy. Recently, an empirical linkage between movements and democratization processes has also been established. On the one hand, many of the processes that cause democratization generally promote social movements and democratization itself further encourages people to form social movements. On the other, under certain conditions and in a more limited way, democratization is promoted by social movements themselves. When looking at the impact of movements on democracy, the evidence is, however, mixed. First, some social movements support democracy, but some do not. Second, their relevance in democratization processes is discussed: while a “populist” approach to democracy emphasizes participation from below, with movements as important actors in the creation of democratic public spheres, the “elitist” approach considers democratization as mainly a top‐down process.
Publication Year: 2022
Publication Date: 2022-09-27
Language: en
Type: other
Indexed In: ['crossref']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 1
AI Researcher Chatbot
Get quick answers to your questions about the article from our AI researcher chatbot