Ethos democratico e controllo popolare

In The Democratic Horizon Alessandro Ferrara lists four main distinctive virtues of the ethos of democracy: individualism, common good, equality and openness. From this list is strikingly missing popular control. In this comment, I argue that the sentiment of popular control is needed in order to make sense of the other elements of the democratic ethos listed in The Democratic Horizon. Moreover, I point out that the insightful approach of Ferrara’s book provides useful theoretical resources for overcoming the apparent incompatibility of popular control with the current conditions of the practice of democracy