CESNOVA

The doctoral thesis will analyze the relevance of participation to the quality of contemporary Democracy. More specifically, we will seek answers to the following questions: if the «democratic principle» can and should be applied not only to certain areas of social action of political nature, but also to any kind of social action taking place in the context of civil society, meaning, if it’s possible, and desirable, to democratize structures of authority beyond the State; if there is a required minimum of participation to maintain the «democractic method»; which are the conditions that provide/preclude the participation of citizens; how the participation mechanisms actually work; how far the citizens take advantage of the given participation opportunities; and which are the consequences of participation to the democratic quality of political policies. The resident’s involvement in social housing policies in contemporary Portugal will be considered as case study, in order to determine in which conditions this phenomenon occurs and its consequences to the democratic exercise.