MARTI, JOSÉ LUIS. Multiple Speeds. On Democracy without Shortcuts, by Cristina Lafont. []. , spe55, pp.87-104.   09--2023. ISSN 0122-9893.  https://doi.org/10.18601/01229893.n55.06.

In her last book, Democracy without Shortcuts, Cristina Lafont advocates a demanding ideal of democracy as self-government in which all citizens must be able to participate in processes of public deliberation and shape the policies they are subject to as well as to endorse them as their own. In the arduous path towards such ideal, Lafont argues, there is no place for magical shortcuts that, under some interpretations, promise its automatic realization. In this comment, I distinguish between replacement shortcuts and complementary shortcuts, and argue that the latter are fully compatible with Lafont's scheme. In regard to replacement shortcuts, I also argue that any plausible non-ideal theory of democracy must make room for them, even if under strict systemic democratic conditions.

: Democracy; deliberative democracy; participatory democracy; self-government; public deliberation; minipublics; ideal and non-ideal theory.

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