The Democratic Ideal and Historical Experience

Autor smatra da je demokratsko načelo legitimeta odnijelo definitivnu pobjedu nad svim ostalim oblicima legitimnosti u 20. stoljeću, jer se jedino ono može uskladiti s uvjetima modernosti. Moderna počiva na individualnosti i racionalnosti i oni čine jezgru modernoga političkog poretka. Proces moderne rastvara uvjete stabilne nedemokratske vladavine, ali to ne znači da svuda nastaju pretpostavke stabilne demokracije. Među osnovne pretpostavke uspješnog demokratskog modusa politike ubraja autor rješavanje sukoba posredstvom konsenzusnih pravila, što znači rješavanje sukoba oblikom pravne regulacije. Tu počiva neotkloniva veza između ustavne države i demokracije. Svi pokušaji da se demokracija izuzme iz simbioze s ustavnom državom razorili bi samu demokraciju, i to je osnovno iskustvo 20. stoljeća u odnosu prema demokraciji.The author believes that the democratic principle of legitimacy has definetly won over all other forms of legitimization in the 20th century becuase it is the only one that can be coordinated with the conditions of modernity. The modern is based on individuality and rationality which constitute the core of the modern political set-up. The process of the modern dissolves the conditions for a stable democracy come into being everywhere. The solving of conflicts through consensual rules, which means solving conflicts through the form of legal regulation, is included by the author among the basic presuppositions of a successful democratic mode of political practice. This is where the unremovable link between the constitutional state and democracy resides. All attempts to exclude democracy from its symbiosis with the constitutional state would destroy democracy itself. This is the basic experience of the twentieth century concerning democracy