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Democracy or oligarchy? The invisible control of politics

Abstract

What is democracy, how and how is it managed and presented to the population? There are discrepancies between the core of its institutions and its practice? Considering the common political scenario of Western democracies, this text focuses on forms of control and institutionalized instruments to block political participation.The author starts from the hypothesis that a process of substitution of democratic institutions for the installation of an oligarchy in power, despite the formal maintenance of democratic institutions, is in the final stage in contemporary democracies. We analyze the conditions under which this oligarchic power coordinates its economic and political interests in an invisible way.

Democracy; Oligarchy; Invisibility; Politics

Departamento de Sociologia da Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas da Universidade de São Paulo Av. Prof. Luciano Gualberto, 315, 05508-010, São Paulo - SP, Brasil - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: temposoc@edu.usp.br