ABSTRACT
There is widespread agreement amongst writers of highly diverse provenance: the existing system of political representation is deficient and thus no longer able to respond adequately to the novel challenges of a changing social and economic global order.1 What should be done? As is clear from this volume, theorists of democracy offer diverse models of deliberation in particular. A second answer, popular among politicians and intellectuals alike, is simply to strengthen the role of intermediary associations, in the conviction that this might cure modern democracy’s most urgent maladies (see the discussion in Perczynski’s chapter, above). Ever since de Tocqueville, this healing power is said to be an inherent feature of associational life: people learn how to trust, developing a stronger sense of community; interests are mediated in a more reliable manner; rates of political participation increase; civic virtues are taught; and, as a result, social integration is assured once more.
