About democracy and democratization. Some ideas for expanding participation in the government of our universities

Abstract

The word "democracy" has a long history of activism in the history of Western political thought, throughout which it has been used in the most diverse ways. This article studies in particular the ways in which it has been thought of over the last century, when it was identified with a virtuous way of organizing the political life of peoples associated with the ideas of "freedom" and "rights," and in particular the ways in which, applied to university institutions, its meaning enters into a productive tension with the aristocratic and exclusive traditions that have animated the life of these institutions since their very origin, and which in Argentina were the target of the University Reform movement of 1918 and of the successive movements of "democratization" of universities deployed since then. That word, "democratization," names precisely a movement of expansion of those freedoms and rights. The article considers some innovations in the modes of government of public university institutions that have guided them in this direction: the participatory budget and social councils. The former promotes the deliberative and active participation of members of the university community in the autonomous management of the funds assigned to them for their operation. The latter "open the doors" of universities to the voices, perspectives and needs of social organizations in their territories.