Los intelectuales, las instituciones democráticas y el futuro de la izquierda.

(Entrevista con Ludolfo Paramio)

Abstract

In this interview some of the fundamental characteristics of the breakdown of the socialist model are examined (be that model taken as an utopian project for social transformation aimed at egalitarianism or as a political system which guarantees civil liberties). In the present context, characterized in part by the crisis of the social state in the emerging democracies, the reflection is oriented toward the definition of a probable "problem agenda" for the twenty-first century which permits the formulation of a progressive, alternative project. This necessarily collective effort requires a society of universal rights, or in other words, the extension of civil rights to the largest possible number or individuals on the planet. Another important aspect focuses on the analysis of the relations which intellectuals have established with the political class. Such relations are analyzed from the perspective of both a power critique and the formation of the "propitiators of consensus".