Reconstruction of the Cleavage Concept in Relational Perspective

The aim of this article is to offer a reformulation of particular elements of the cleavage concept, which can be fruitfully applied to the reflection of certain contemporary social and political processes. In the following sections I argue that (1) by focusing on social ties and relations this reformulation of Rokkan ́s ontological assumptions has greater potential to reflect processes as: the intersection of social circles; the attraction of political actors which can be taken as nodes in the contemporary social structure and can accumulate and aggregate individuals with different socio-structural backgrounds; or the electorate re-alignment/de-alignment processes. (2) With understanding democratization as a positive discourse extension and „not as a product but a special condition of public politics“, the next aim of the article is to also discuss the role of extra-institutional political participation and selected non-state actors in contemporary decision-making process.