Democracy

Real democracies only insufficiently fulfil the universal claim of freedom and equality; exclusions are a constitutive part of every existing democracy. The growing group of people in many countries who are not citizens of their country of residence are completely or partially excluded from political rights. Other structural minorities enjoy political rights, but their interests are often not or not sufficiently represented.


This still affects women, but also sexual minorities, people with special needs and people whose actions position them outside the socially accepted framework, such as offenders and addicts.

The project analyses democracies from their margins, with a focus on those who are excluded in various ways, for example by being locked up in prisons. The focus is not only on the hegemonic model of representative liberal democracy, but also on alternative models of democracy, such as deliberative democracy or socialist societies. The focus on inequality and exclusion allows for a form of democratic-theoretical knowledge generation that is neglected in many reflections on democracy.