Abstract

BAPTISTA, António. What is democratic about property-owning democracy?. Diacrítica [online]. 2015, vol.29, n.2, pp.109-129. ISSN 0807-8967.

One of the defining features of the ideal of “property-owning democracy” is the central role played in it by the democratic principle to the service of which all social and economic institutions must be tailored. I contend that democracy should be understood as the ideal of a self-sustaining political procedure in which all conditions for equal political power are ensured (Isocracy). I identify 4 main sources of impediments to isocracy that plague contemporary capitalist societies: A) the lack of political competence and interest that derives from low economic and educational capabilities; B) the psychological dependence caused by economic precariousness; C) the oligopoly of voice in the deliberative dimension; D) the structural dependence of the State on Capital. The relevance and political attractiveness of POD rests in its ability to counter these impediments. I seek here to question in what ways and how effectively can POD address these impediments.

Keywords : Property-Owning democracy; isocracy; economic inequalities; political inequalities.

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