Democracy in turbulent time Is another democracy possible?

The recent financial crisis and the turbulence that are interesting different areas of the world has stressed that democracy has to cope with new challenges and sometimes it seems to be inadequate for this goals. However a crisis can be considered a time of decadence or an opportunity to test new models and practices. The last decades political debate often focused on the notion of democracy either to underline a growing request of “more democracy” or to look at its transformations, crises and even its end (Crouch 2003; Dahrendorf 2003; Eisenstadt 2002; Ginsborg 2006). Democracy is used to critics and transformations; as Bobbio said: democracy is dynamic, despotic regimes are static (Bobbio 1984). Opposite to the democratic deficit reported by literature, new forms of democracy are emerging (bottom up democracy): participative democracy, subsidiarity democracy; the Big Society project proposed by PM David Cameron seems to go in this direction. They design a new “geography of power”, which redefines the relationship between citizens and institutions and the actors involved in the decision making processes; they also imply new forms of legitimacy and governance, active citizenship and the involvement of civil society in the decision making process. The paper will focus on the following topics: - Democracy in time of crisis - From representative democracy to “mixed democracy” - New actors and practices at national and European level