Crisis of democracy and the challenges of political participation

The aim of this article is to analyse some of the main weaknesses of contemporary democracies in terms of political participation, in the face of the threat of totalitarianism and populism. Using a qualitative methodology of hermeneutic analysis, we return to Hannah Arendt's thoughts on the centrality and fragility of politics in her study of totalitarianism, defining the true value of politics in the exercise of freedom, participation and authentic interaction with other human beings, which depends, as we hypothesise, not only on the extent of each person's social inclusion in society, but also on personality traits and resilience capacities correlated with different degrees of emancipation experienced throughout life. We will conclude by reinforcing the value of politics as a non-instrumental human activity and, therefore, with an end in itself, enabling human beings to exercise public and collective freedom by acting with others.