Diplomademocratie Een herbezinning op de diagnose, bronnen en uitwegen

This article offers a theoretical review of the concept and theory of diploma democracy. We build up the review along three lines. First, we center the extent to which diploma democracy can be labelled ‘democratic’. We position the idea of diploma democracy in the broader political and philosophical literature on representation, pillarization, and inequality. Second, we focus on the ‘diploma’ in diploma democracy. To that purpose, we discuss to what extent the findings in the literature on diploma democracy reflect meritocracy (which aims to reward intellectual or performative excellence) caused by success in higher education, or rather reflect more deeply rooted societal inequalities that only come to light in higher education. Third, we connect the two building blocks ‘diploma’ and ‘democracy’ together. We discuss the societal and political impact that the theory of diploma democracy has had in the Netherlands, and engage with institutional measures that may be considered to moderate diploma democracy and its effects.