Liberalismo e mediazione politica. Premesse per la definizione di un nuovo «elitismo liberale»

The first aim of this article is to retrace a strand of the debate that has emerged in recent years concerning the possibility of defining a form of democracy without liberalism and without political mediation. Particular attention is devoted to the theoretical and conceptual difficulties of such a hypothesis, which have been further intensified by a rapidly changing in-ternational context, the pervasive use of social media, and, more recently, the growing influence of artificial intelligence systems. The second aim is to advance some preliminary hypotheses toward the construction of a theore-tical synthesis capable of offering an “update” to democratic theory. Rather than overcoming the liberal legacies that have shaped democracy or abando-ning the foundational structures of political mediation, the article seeks to si-tuate them within a broader framework that takes ongoing transformations seriously. This framework engages with contemporary debates commonly captured by the notions of post-liberalism and post-representation. To this end, the article revisits the classical concept of liberal elitism, arguing that any such theoretical proposal – here only sketched – cannot neglect the role and function of political elites.