Practices of Democracy. An Introduction

Social movements are key actors within democratic systems, capable of influencing them in many ways. In this chapter, we explore how social movements can help us rethink and improve democracy. They are not only about protesting or opposing what exists, but also about creating new ways of participating and organizing. Often, they open spaces where people imagine and practise more inclusive and citizen-oriented forms of democracy. From these experiences, different democratic ideas have emerged. Some movements promote more direct participation, others experiment with public deliberation, and many use digital tools to engage more people. There are even proposals to change how we choose representatives, such as sortition, in which people are selected by lottery instead of voting