Assessing democracy in vitro, in vivo, and in actu and the role of democratic theory today
Deligiaouri, AnastasiaORCID: 0000-0002-3517-6212 and Suiter, JaneORCID: 0000-0002-2747-8069
(2019)
Assessing democracy in vitro, in vivo, and in actu and the role of democratic theory today.
Democratic Theory, 6
(2).
pp. 70-84.
ISSN 2332-8894
How can we define democracy today given the continuous changes that modern societies are
undergoing?What is the role of a democratic theorist? This paper articulates a threefold argument
in responding to these questions by analyzing the term of democracy in vitro, in vivo, and in
actu. The first step is tosecure a democratic minimum and the core principles of democracy. The
second step involves studying democracy as an ongoing project and examininghow the principles
of this democratic minimum are encoded. In thethird stepwe deploy the basic premises of
discourse theory of Laclau and Mouffe when evaluating a specific discourse of democracy, as
this approachencompasses both discursive and non discursive practices.Utilizing this three-level
evaluative framework for democratic theory will allow us to not only articulate normative
principles but also evaluate them according to their mode of implementation.
Keywords: democratic minimum, democratic theory, democracy, representation