Kłopoty pojęciowe z demokracją

Ujęcie opisowe, semantyczne i normatywne

Abstract

Conceptual problems with democracy. Descriptive, semantic and normative approaches

The conceptual confusion makes it difficult to provide a convincing answer to the question of what democracy is. One reason of this, which I would like to analyze below, is a intermingling of the descriptive, normative and semantic elements in almost each theory of democracy. I will show that a pure description is probably impossible, and that any attempt to approach the actual functioning of any regime necessarily contains normative assessment and expectations. In conclusion, I point out that a fair comparison of democratic models and practices requires a special effort to separate the normative and descriptive elements. I also note that the study of normative assumptions underlying some commonly accepted views of democracy allows a better understanding of their theoretical and practical circumstances and consequences, which in turn can contribute to their revision.