Democratisering; evolutie of revolutie?

Samenvatting

The concept of democracy has long been limited to governmental institutions. Only at the end of the 19th century did people begin to consider the democratization of other institutions, such as businesses, cooperatives, etc. Democratization can be defined as a process by which less influential members increase their influence. This can be by evolutionary and revolutionary means, the choice between them usually being made on the basis of principles. Some kind of utopia is generally the goal of structural democratization, whereas functional democratization tends to be founded on a particular ideology. Functional democracy frequently results in structural democracy. This was the case with workers' councils in Yugoslavia, which at first functioned solely as advisory organizations, but later often acquired real power. Although democratization is a very admirable goal, its desire ability in a particular organization depends upon the structure and purpose of that organization. In the Netherlands, the educational reforms to be implemented by the Veringa Law give university students only a limited degree of functional democracy, which is nonetheless, better than nothing at all. 1 table. P. Tiersma.