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EINBLICKE
17
The crisis offers an
opportunity to learn.
complain about democratic deficits. This autumn the German
Constitutional Court held proceedings on complaints lodged
against the permanent European Stability Mechanism (ESM)
and the Fiscal Compact (TSCG) bymore than 37,000 citizens, as
well as politicians of parties ranging from the Christian Social
Union to the Social Democratic Party to the Left Party. The
main issue here was the democratic deficit in decisions on
European policy and the Bundestag's budget legislation – a
core element of democratic sovereignty.
Political education and educational research should discuss
the legitimisation deficits and current crisis phenomena and
analyse their consequences for
political socialisation and learning
processes. The crisis offers an op-
portunity to learn through analysing
its socio-political causes, criticising deficient legitimisation
processes, pointing out political alternatives and testing new
methods of participation, such as the "liquid feedback" me-
thod introduced by the Pirate Party. With thismethod the right
to vote can be exercised on a case-to-case basis. Depending
on the topic in question, members can either vote themselves
or transfer their votes to selected delegates – however not
necessarily for all topics.
What is important is that political education begins to discuss
the decrease in the possibilities for democratic participation
and the different forms of de-democratization – for example
the weakening of parliaments resulting from expert com-
mittees, Europeanization, lobbyism and commercial political
consultation. Politics cannot be reduced to the efficient
management of public problems through administrative
procedures. Not until we see the Indignant movement, the
popular protests and the great success of the Pirate Party as
a counter-movement to this trend, we can comprehend these
phenomena. Many citizens, however, doubt that they have
any leeway at all to play an active role beyond that of high
performers or solvent consumers. For this reason precisely
the blocking of possibilities for democratic participation by
mechanisms of self-exclusion and exclusion by others must
become the focus of research into political education and
educational practice. Stuttgart 21, Blockupy and the protest
actions against the ACTA Agreement are examples of the
mobilisation of popular protests.
On the other hand the enormous success of the Pirate Party
demonstrates that parliamentary structures also allow for the
emergence of new channels for grassroots democratic par-
ticipation, which have quickly been adopted by the establis-
hed parties. Politics is a public confrontation about conflicts
and alternatives. It requires new arenas and new routes to
access those arenas, as well
as sufficient time for the
votes of the citizens to be
taken seriously. If the social
sciences confine themselves to addressing matters of public
administration and economically efficient management, they
to a large extent blot out the withdrawal of the people from
politics. The resulting "depoliticised" political science reflects
the de-politicization of the citizens rather than analysing it. It
fails to live up to its own claim to be a political science.
Politics requires new arenas
and new routes to access.
Zerplatzter Farbbeutel: „Die Bürgerproteste nehmen zu.“
A burst bag of paint: "Popular protests are growing in number."
