ABSTRACT
Modern understandings of both democracy and social movements have been fundamentally shaped by the experience of living within a world of states. State borders have been seen to demarcate the reach of movements and the boundaries of democratic institutions, and they have largely captured the political imagination. The political elites approach deals more directly with why democratization occurs when it does, by examining the calculations and actions of the major actors involved. Expanding reflexivity means that populations are less likely to accept old stories of political legitimacy. Disciplinary proclivities often encourage a focus on culture and identity, but some proponents also look at economic and political effects. Demarchy is a technocratic, explicitly apolitical ideal that reduces democracy to the negotiation of regulations in committees. A more holistic notion of the political actor would surely have to take multiple identifications and deep-rooted belongings into account.
