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Since some years political scientists observe a growing political dissatisfaction. On closer inspection one sees that mainly socially disadvantaged citizens have retreated from the democratic process. This applies not only to the participation in elections and membership in political parties, but to a greater degree also to alternative forms of political participation such as town meetings and referenda. Against this background, the article is looking for possibilities of a reintegration of socially disadvantaged citizens into the democratic process. Following considerations made by Young and McCormick, who highlight an "aristocratic effect" of formal democratic procedures, a suspensive veto-right for socially disadvantaged citizens is proposed at the end. Adapted from the source document.

The article compares the current debate on democratization of the processes of global governance with controversies in context of the American Revolution. The comparison of these two discussions shows three analogies. Firstly, a reconfiguration of the basic democratic institutions and practices occurs in both debates, notably in the change from a radical into a representative respectively from a representative into a deliberative understanding of democracy. Secondly, in both cases the reconfiguration is attended by a semantic transformation of the concept of democracy. Furthermore, in each case the transfer of democracy to a new political order is attended by a weakening of the mechanisms of popular control. Adapted from the source document.

The article criticizes deliberative approaches of democratic theory. The criticism is especially directed against theories which try to reconceptualize the meaning of democracy in the context of the discussion about a post national constellation. The starting point is the assumption of a twofold promise of democracy. Firstly the procedural promise of equal participation in political decision making and secondly the substantial promise that through democratic participation the social world will become more equal. Against this background it is shown that a deliberative understanding of democracy runs the risk of undermining these promises. In the last part the author suggests to conceptualize democracy as a term to describe those acts and efforts that are directed against violations of both democratic promises. Adapted from the source document.

Following Aristotle's Rhetoric this article deals with the relation between deliberative & emotional aspects of political decision making. Unlike some recent articles about the relation between Aristotle & deliberative democracy it is shown that he is not arguing for a rational & unemotional way of political decision making. On the contrary, he is even comfortable with unconstrained rhetoric. To a certain degree the Rhetoric could be read as a manual for demagogues. In the last part, it is argued that Aristotle highlights the noncognitive & emotional features of deliberative procedures & is thereby able to correct one of the most serious shortcomings of the theory of deliberative democracy. Adapted from the source document.

Abstract not available. References.

The article argues that there are two main reasons for using "postdemocracy" as the adequate term for describing contemporary western societies. On the one hand there is a class biased decline in political participation which hurts the democratic promise of equality. On the other hand we observe a weakening of the democratic state due to the globalization of politics. In effect politics at the dawn of the twenty-first century is becoming more & more a game played by international elites. Adapted from the source document.

The article contributes to the debate on the feasibility of transferring democratic norms and institutions to the global level. A critical evaluation of previous efforts to bridge the gap between democratic ideals and the political reality of post-national governance is followed by an argument to classify forms of global governance as legitimate according to the extent to which they meet measurable criteria in the dimensions of input-, throughput- and output-legitimacy. Adapted from the source document.