Max Weber e le peripezie della democrazia

The essay analyses Max Weber’s thinking on democracy in both his theoretical and political writings. Weber examines democracy in relation to the themes of charismatic power and its transformation in an anti-authoritarian sense, as well as in relation to the theme of the minimisation of power and the...

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Main Author: Furio Ferraresi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Firenze University Press 2021-04-01
Series:Cambio
Subjects:
Online Access:https://oaj.fupress.net/index.php/cambio/article/view/10053
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author Furio Ferraresi
author_facet Furio Ferraresi
author_sort Furio Ferraresi
collection DOAJ
description The essay analyses Max Weber’s thinking on democracy in both his theoretical and political writings. Weber examines democracy in relation to the themes of charismatic power and its transformation in an anti-authoritarian sense, as well as in relation to the theme of the minimisation of power and the problematic relationship with social democratisation and bureaucratisation. If democracy was historically born as an attempt to minimise the authoritarian power of command and to prevent the formation of a separate administration (direct democracy), it paradoxically ends up, in the so-called ‘mass democracies’, by becoming an instrument of centralisation of political command in a leader legitimised by popular recognition that assumes plebiscitary forms. A democracy, therefore, emptied of value content and reduced to a technique of shaping the democratic masses according to the head/apparatus model typical of modern bureaucratic enterprise.
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spelling doaj.art-95383c2ef28840a6a82fb0cd4ebfe9e82022-12-21T20:13:27ZengFirenze University PressCambio2239-11182021-04-01102010.13128/cambio-10053Max Weber e le peripezie della democraziaFurio Ferraresi0Università della Valle d’AostaThe essay analyses Max Weber’s thinking on democracy in both his theoretical and political writings. Weber examines democracy in relation to the themes of charismatic power and its transformation in an anti-authoritarian sense, as well as in relation to the theme of the minimisation of power and the problematic relationship with social democratisation and bureaucratisation. If democracy was historically born as an attempt to minimise the authoritarian power of command and to prevent the formation of a separate administration (direct democracy), it paradoxically ends up, in the so-called ‘mass democracies’, by becoming an instrument of centralisation of political command in a leader legitimised by popular recognition that assumes plebiscitary forms. A democracy, therefore, emptied of value content and reduced to a technique of shaping the democratic masses according to the head/apparatus model typical of modern bureaucratic enterprise.https://oaj.fupress.net/index.php/cambio/article/view/10053democracydemocratisationcharismamassespowerWeber
spellingShingle Furio Ferraresi
Max Weber e le peripezie della democrazia
Cambio
democracy
democratisation
charisma
masses
power
Weber
title Max Weber e le peripezie della democrazia
title_full Max Weber e le peripezie della democrazia
title_fullStr Max Weber e le peripezie della democrazia
title_full_unstemmed Max Weber e le peripezie della democrazia
title_short Max Weber e le peripezie della democrazia
title_sort max weber e le peripezie della democrazia
topic democracy
democratisation
charisma
masses
power
Weber
url https://oaj.fupress.net/index.php/cambio/article/view/10053
work_keys_str_mv AT furioferraresi maxwebereleperipeziedellademocrazia