Democracy

Abstract

This article proposes to reflect on the different meanings of the term democracy. While recognizing that the
very concept of democracy is subject to the conflicts that its concrete exercise implies, three fundamental
senses are distinguished: democracy as a form of government, as a mechanism for decision-making and as a
moral ideal. Insofar as the idea of democracy necessarily refers to the idea of the people, we will reflect on the
different ways in which the people are conceptualized in recent political debates. In addition, it will be pointed
out that democracy, in any of its senses, depends on a certain technical or technological support that makes
it possible, from the voting systems that seek to ensure the secrecy of the vote, to the communication systems
that should ensure access to, and reliability of, the information necessary for decision-making. In view of this,
and with the help of authors such as Langdom Winner or Éric Sadin, the article also reflects on the relations
and tensions between democracy and technology.