%0 Journal Article
%T The normativity of democracy
%A Roberto Frega
%J European Journal of Political Theory
%@ 1741-2730
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/1474885116684760
%X The aim of this paper is to advance our understanding of the normative grammar of the concept of democracy by distinguishing two levels at which a political concept may play a normative function, and proceeds by analysing the concept of democracy at these two levels. It distinguishes in particular between normativity as ¡®norm-compliance¡¯ and normativity as ¡®paradigmatic¡¯ and contends that the concept of democracy has a normative content that extends over both levels. A model of democracy consistent with this approach is then outlined based on a sociological account of democratic patterns of interaction. The structure of the paper is as follows. In sections one and two, I distinguish two meanings of normativity and introduce the concept of ¡®paradigm normativity'. In section three, I provide examples of rival ¡®paradigm normative' concepts. In section four, I provide an account of democracy as a ¡®paradigm normative' concept and in sections five and six, I present its two most important theoretical features
%K Democracy
%K democratic theory
%K ontology of democracy
%K pragmatism
%K social interactionism
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1474885116684760