This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0), which permits reproduction, adaptation, and distribution provided the original author and source are credited. 1 Institute of Philosophy, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). C/ Albasanz, 26-28, 28037-Madrid, Spain. E-mail: jc.velasco@csic.es Filosofia Unisinos Unisinos Journal of Philosophy 17(2):111-120, may/aug 2016 Unisinos – doi: 10.4013/fsu.2016.172.04 Revitalizing democracy through civil disobedience Revitalizando a democracia através da desobediência civil Juan Carlos Velasco 1 ABSTRACT Civil disobedience is a widespread form of political protest used by minorities to make their voices heard in democratic societies. It is a mechanism of participation in the process of shaping public opinion, and of intervention, by via negativa, in the legislative process. In ex- ercising it, citizens can assert their public autonomy when faced with serious decisions that, from their perspective, undermine the values on which society is based. This form of political dissidence is thus a highly valuable device in order to revitalize the participatory fundamen- tals of representative democracy. Keywords: civil disobedience, representative democracy, political participation, citizenship, social change, Arendt, Habermas. RESUM O A desobediência civil é uma forma generalizada de protesto político usado pelas minorias para fazer ouvir suas vozes em sociedades democráticas. Trata-se de um mecanismo de participação no processo de formação da opinião pública e de intervenção, via negativa, no processo legislativo. Ao exercê-la, os cidadãos podem afirmar sua autonomia pública diante de decisões sérias que, sob sua perspectiva, minam os valores em que a sociedade se ba- seia. Esta forma de dissidência política é, portanto, um instrumento altamente valioso para revitalizar os fundamentos participativos da democracia representativa. Palavras-chave: desobediência civil, democracia representativa, participação política, cida- dania, mudança social, Arendt, Habermas. Responding to the democratic impulse can be seen as an attempt to reduce the distance between those who make political decisions and those who are affected by these decisions. Public debate about the different options, with arguments for and against freely put forward by every- one who is affected by and involved in their possible implementation, is necessary to give political agreements a genuinely democratic complexion (see Velasco, 2006). In most current democra- cies, however, those possibly affected by the decisions are neither taken into account nor given a voice. When official channels of deliberation and participation are in pratice closed off to most citizens, it is then that the potentials of civil disobedience become more visible: civil disobedi- ence presents itself as a means to non-violently channelling the prevailing discontent into the