RIM 2012.05.04 Etienne Chouard 1/2

Radio ici et maintenant, 4 mai 2012, Lisandru reçoit Etienne Chouard, enseignant en économie devenu célèbre en tant que blogueur pour un entretien de près de 2h, parmi les sujets abordés:<br />Histoire et contre-Histoire, Démocratie et Gouvernement Représentatif, Référendum d’Initiative Populaire, il répond aussi aux questions des auditeurs.<br />1ere partie: exposé-conférence d'Etienne Chouard<br />2nde partie: dialogue questions/reponses avec les auditeurs<br />source: http://rim951.fr/?p=1717

You are listening to Radio Here and Now 95.2 FM and online at icietmaintenant.com. You just

heard the four seasons of Vivaldi, the beginning of autumn because seasons change,

but unfortunately, the same can't be said about the political systems.

And to discuss this, we are joined by Etienne Chouard, Hello Etienne.

Hello

Etienne, hello, I am going to briefly introduce you ... So you are an independent researcher,

I saw recently a video entitled: Etienne Chouard, researcher of the cause of causes,

Yes...

Yes? Alright then we will say Etienne Chouard, researcher of the cause of causes, you are working on the idea

of democracy, fake democracy compared to genuine democracy, so I am going to try and summarize

in a few sentences your arguments and you can correct me if need be. So in short,

You think that we are living today in a fake democracy,

which is based on the wrong choice, on the illusion of choice, when in reality the accurate name of the system

in which we live, is the representational government. Because real democracy (genuine democracy)

is not based on elections, but on lottery. Does this sound like a good introduction?

Yes, but in fact for someone who has never heard of this subject, it will be somewhat brutal

you are right, I used this short intro because we had you as a guest several times and our listeners

are for the majority familiar with your thoughts. So, for the listeners who in fact

are discovering this for the first time, I have here a book you talked about on this radio

during your first appearance, anyways with me, and the book is called "Principes du Gouvernement Representatif"

It is a book by Bernard Manin, and I want to thank Benjamin for

lending it to me, he borrowed it from his local library, and I will read

I think reading from Bernard Manin is better than my introduction

So I will read these few sentences: " From Athenians democrats to Montesquieu,

from Aristotle to Rousseau, no one thought of turning the election into THE democratic instrument of choice.

Democracy was not equivalent to a representational government. It was the lottery system that seemed better fit

to respect strict equality of the candidates. What happened at the turn of the eighteenth century

in Europe and the United States, for this multi-secular concept to be reversed, and lose ground to the idea

that a democracy is, in essence, a representational government? Is this change an accurate reflection?

This book represents a theory of representational government

that fits both the European tradition and the American debate. Bernard Manin argues that

the representational system does not have the unique function to allow citizens to self-govern.

Does this title appeal to you?