A third model of democracy

自18世纪末以来，民主被概念化为代议制，定期选举保证了决策者的合法性。这种模式与对民族国家无法实现的直接民主的理解背道而驰。然而，这种简单的比较隐藏了第三种模式，这是自17世纪以来一直在讨论的主题。这是一种民主的概念，起源于英国的平等主义者，后来在美国的反联邦主义者和法国大革命中由吉伦丁人加强。然而，这第三种模式在研究中大多被忽视或从属于其他两种方法，因为它只被视为对精英程序和制度的拒绝。然而，我们认为，革命性的辩论表明，这是对代议制民主的独立和有充分根据的批评--不是从反民主的立场出发，而是为了使民主进程和机构对民主有更复杂的理解。第一，17世纪以来关于现代民主概念的辩论的丰富性；第二，基于直接民主和代议制民主并列的对民主代表制的片面解释。对于第三种民主模式的理论家来说，代表制不仅仅意味着通过选举使政治精英合法化，而且还意味着确保被代表者优先于代表。因此，该项目的指导思想是，基本的民主动机已经可以在英国内战、美国和法国大革命期间得到证明。这一时期的政治辩论不仅集中在选举和代议制机构的理论合法性上，而且还集中在对那些资源--收入、人脉、言辞能力--具有垄断政治权力结构的强烈倾向的精英的尽可能全面的控制上。正如必须表明的那样，为了对付这一趋势，制定了一整套体制机制，以保证不巩固权力结构--具体地说，就是代表不会离开代表的太远。这种激进的民主方法也是针对少数人专政的危险，而不是对少数人的压迫。该项目的目的是将思想史的材料浓缩成一个独立的、第三种民主模式。

Since the late eighteenth century democracy has been conceptualized as representative with periodical elections guaranteeing the legitimacy of the decision-makers. This model is opposed to an understanding of direct democracy that cannot be realized in a nation-state. However, such a simple comparison hides a third model, which has been the subject of discussion since the 17th century. It is a conception of democracy which starts with the Levellers in England and was later made strong by the Anti-Federalists in the USA and in the French Revolution by the Girondins. However, this third model is mostly neglected in research or subordinated to the other two approaches, because it is only seen as a rejection of elitist procedures and institutions. Nonetheless, in our view, the revolutionary debates demonstrate that it is an independent and well-founded critique of representative democracy – not from an anti-democratic stance, but with the aim of bringing democratic processes and institutions towards a more complex understanding of democracy.The project therefore focuses on two issues. First, the richness of the debates on the modern concept of democracy since the 17th century, and second, the one-sided interpretation of democratic representation which is based on a juxtaposition of direct and representative democracy. For the theoreticians of the third model of democracy, representation does not simply mean legitimizing political elites through elections, but rather ensuring the primacy of the represented over the representatives. It is therefore the guiding thesis of the project that fundamentally democratic motives can already be demonstrated during the civil war in England, the American and French Revolution. The political debates of that period focused not only on the theoretical legitimacy of elections and representative bodies, but also on the most comprehensive control possible of those elites whose resources – income, networks, rhetorical capabilities have a strong tendency to monopolize political power structures. In order to counter this tendency, as has to be shown, a whole arsenal of institutional mechanisms has been devised to guarantee that there is no consolidation of power structures – specifically, that the representatives do not move too far away from the represented. This radical democratic approach was also directed against the danger of the tyranny of the few as opposed to the oppression of minorities. The aim of the project is to condense the material of the history of ideas into an independent, third model of democracy.