Civic Competence, Self-Governance, and the New Epistocratic Paternalism: An Ostromanian Perspective

This paper revisits the citizens-centered model of governance and its assumptions in the light of the developments taking place in social and behavioral sciences during the last couples of decades. These developments have profoundly challenged some of the key assumptions regarding the civic and political competence of the normal citizens, in normal circumstances, in a normal democratic-liberal system. The very notion of self-governance may be in question. The paper charts the nature of those challenges and tries to articulate a response to them. It does that from a position inspired by the theoretical and normative stance of Vincent and Elinor Ostrom, two major contributors to the self-governance/civics tradition.