Mitigating Illiberalism through Political Representation: Intermediary Bodies as Pillars of Pluralism

According to many scholars, there is a separation between democracy and liberalism that favors the establishment of self-proclaimed illiberal democracies. This hypothesis has many theoretical, conceptual, and practical implications. The aim of this article is to reflect on one aspect of this trend—the relationship between the rise of illiberalism and the function of political representation—with the intention of showing how the latter is one of the most important legacies of the history of liberalism for contemporary democracy. In fact, political representation has historically had the great merit of mitigating the illiberal forms present in “pure” democracies, especially with intermediary bodies, which can guarantee the resilience of representative democracy. Today, this proposition is precarious due to the forms of anti-pluralism typical of illiberal cultures. The result is a dangerous mixture that destabilizes the balance on which political representation is based. What measures should be taken to prevent illiberalism from overwhelming one of the cornerstones of democracy? Using data from a recent empirical study conducted in Italy, this paper examines the importance of intermediary bodies in liberal democracy. The hypothesis put forward is that intermediary bodies should be re-emphasized to provide opportunities for civil society dynamics, not only in established democracies but also in those newly established democracies in which the illiberal wind seems to be blowing more fiercely.