"Understanding & Acting" conference

Abstract:
After having imposed itself during the last two centuries as the only legitimate, if not possible, form of government, representative democracy is today questioned from all sides. It is confronted with multiple tests that question its effectiveness, if not its very legitimacy: the rise of so-called "populist" movements; the rise of economic powers; the progression of abstention; the contestation of the very principle of representation by certain social and political movements… The question today is to know if the institutions on which our political model is based, most of which were born at the end of the 18th century, are still adapted to the cultural, technical, economic and social context of the 21st century. In order to overcome the current impasse, different strategies are now being proposed and many innovations seem to be available today: participatory democracy, citizens' self-organization, a return to lottery, civic-techs … How to assess their political significance and scope? How could they be experimented here and now? What are the limits and conditions of implementation? These are the challenges of this conference.