ORDINARY CITIZENS’ POLITICAL COMPETENCE
ORDINARY CITIZENS’ POLITICAL COMPETENCE

Summary/Abstract: In spite of the observable abundance of demonstrations, marches, occupations, civil disobedience, creation of "movement parties", associative commitments, online petitions, non-violent direct action, mobilization via social networks, these citizens’ “autonomous political practices” are still seen as useless on the grounds that they lie at the margins of the framework set by representative institutions. These practices should be apprehended in a different way. This article aims at substantiating the fact that the current political order is shaped by the confrontation between two equal sources of legitimacy: that which emanates from the official institutions of representative government and essentially relies on election and delegation; and that which arises from the “wild” activism people get involved in to oppose discredited authorities and sometimes succeed in regaining control over the powers who define and implement public policies.

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