Democrazia, politica e nuovi poteri: una frontiera comune per gli studi politici

Political phenomena and processes are the key subject of study in a number of disciplines. Nowadays, however, there often seems to be a growing lack of interest in specifying whether the definition or idea of politics typical of each of these disciplines be identical (or at least still closely related) to that of the others. In addition to specific methodological developments in political studies since the 1960s, such a situation results from certain transformations, both in politics itself and in its more widespread social and cultural representations. The essay mainly focuses on the transformations that are determining an ‘excess’ of politics. Tolerated and often favoured by democratic regimes, this excess of politics is in fact increasing the risks of deconsolidation of democracies. The strengthening of oligarchic powers in domestic politics and the emergence of new powers in the areas of interference between domestic and global politics, thus, come to indicate an important frontier of research for all political studies