Topic 5 – Interlude II: Epistemological and methodological challenges

Section overview
This section critiques conventional approaches to democracy, emphasizing the need for new frameworks to address biases and limitations in mainstream political science. Traditional methods often reduce democracy to institutional structures or the rule of elites, which ignore grassroots democratic expressions and perpetuate a top-down view. Drawing on Boaventura de Sousa Santos’ notion of “epistemicide,” the section examines how hegemonic views marginalize alternative democratic practices, reinforcing a narrow, economically driven perspective on democracy.