Il valore di una leale partigianeria per una società democratica

A democracy acknowledges its members as authors of the collective decisions but, to ensure that everyone is included, it is necessary that the exercise of the political agency is not demanding otherwise only the most advantaged will be involved. If traditionally political parties have been considered the ideal intermediaries between citizens and institutions, the current political polarization fosters the idea that parties and partisanship are undermining democratic institutions and the respect citizens should reciprocally acknowledge to one another. To understand the role that a proper account of democracy should recognize to parties and partisanship I will contend that a form of critical realism, according to which political reality cannot be idealized but should be normatively evaluated, need to be adopted. This approach will allow to reject the partisanship revival, according to which partisanship is a form of deliberative ethos that ensures citizens will pursue the common good, and the perspectives of Mason and Chapman, according to which partisanship is a form of factionalism that fosters affective polarization. I will then contend that partisanship, if properly constrained, can convey a form of loyal antagonism that will ensure that citizens will exercise their political agency without incurring in significant costs.