Institutionalizing Agonistic Democracy

Institutionalizing Agonistic Democracy PDF

Author: Ed Wingenbach

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-05-23

Total Pages: 238

ISBN-13: 1317115724

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The first book length study of agonism as a mature account of democratic politics, Institutionalizing Agonistic Democracy provides a lucid overview of agonistic democratic theories and demonstrates the viability of this approach for institutional politics. Situating agonistic democracy within and against debates about radical democracy, foundationalism, liberal democracy, and pluralism, Institutionalizing Agonistic Democracy engages the texts of Mouffe, Connolly, Ranciere, Tully, Honig, Owen, and others to fully map the contours of agonistic democratic theories. Organizing this diverse literature into a coherent typology enables sophisticated analysis of the assumptions, distinctions, and aspirations of the often conflicting theoretical positions gathered within the constellation of agonistic democratic theory. Using this framework to explore the concrete institutional possibilities appropriate to agonistic democracy, Wingenbach argues that a modified version of Rawlsian political liberalism describes the institutional conditions most likely to sustain agonistic political practices. Once shorn of metaphysical commitments and detached from aspirations to consensus, political liberalism offers a contingent and historically viable framework within which agonistic contestation can occur. Such a reinterpretation of Rawls produces not the sublimation of agonism but a transformation of liberalism, so that it more adequately accommodates the deep pluralism of the post-foundational condition.

Agonistic Democracy

Agonistic Democracy PDF

Author: Marie Paxton

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-11-06

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 0429756879

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Agonistic Democracy explores how theoretical concepts from agonistic democracy can inform institutional design in order to mediate conflict in multicultural, pluralist societies. Drawing on the work of Foucault, Nietzsche, Schmitt and Arendt, Marie Paxton outlines the importance of their themes of public contestation, contingency and necessary interdependency for contemporary agonistic thinkers. Paxton then delineates three distinct approaches to agonistic democracy: David Owen’s perfectionist agonism, Mouffe’s adversarial agonism and William Connolly and James Tully’s inclusive agonism. She demonstrates how each is fundamental to enabling citizens to cultivate better virtues for themselves and society (Owen), motivating democratic engagement (Mouffe) and enhancing relations of respect and understanding between conflicting citizens (Connolly and Tully). Situated within the context of a deeply polarised post-Trump America and post-Brexit Britain, this book reveals the need to rethink our approach to conflict mediation through democratic institutions. Pulling together insights from experimental research with deliberative democratic innovations, Paxton explores how agonistic theory might be institutionalised further. By discussing ways in which agonistic institutions might be developed to render democracy more virtuous, more engaging, and more inclusive, this book provides a unique resource for students of contemporary political theory.

Institutionalizing Agonistic Democracy

Institutionalizing Agonistic Democracy PDF

Author: Edward C. Wingenbach

Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 9781409403531

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Contemporary politics are characterised by the impossibility of agreement on fundamental values. This book examines the institutional alternatives available to democratic politics to determine which institutional structures are most likely to produce a democratic social order in which agonistic citizenship might flourish.

Agonistic Democracy

Agonistic Democracy PDF

Author: Mark Wenman

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2013-09-26

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 1107003725

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A pioneering analysis of agonistic democracy, its history, central thinkers and contribution to contemporary political theory.

Agonistic Democracy and Political Practice

Agonistic Democracy and Political Practice PDF

Author: Fuat Gürsözlü

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2022-08-29

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 3031059999

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This book explores the implications of agonistic democratic theory for political practice. Fuat Gürsözlü argues that at a time when political parties exacerbate political division, political protesters are characterized as looters and terrorists, and extreme partisanship and authoritarian tendencies are on the rise, the agonistic approach offers a much-needed rethinking of political practice to critically understand challenges to democracy and envision more democratic, inclusive, and peaceful alternatives. Inspired by Chantal Mouffe’s agonistic theory and drawing on insights of other prominent agonistic scholars, Gürsözlü offers a distinctive approach that develops the connections between the agonistic approach and political practice. His main claim is that approaching democratic politics from an agonistic perspective changes the way we understand the nature of democratic society, the place of political protest in democracy, the nature of adversarial engagement, and the democratic function of political parties. The book also advances an account of agonistic peace that is best fitted to the pluralistic and inherently conflictual nature of democratic societies. This book should be of interest to anyone working in the field of contemporary political theory, political philosophy, peace studies, and philosophy of peace.

Democracy as Popular Sovereignty

Democracy as Popular Sovereignty PDF

Author: Filimon Peonidis

Publisher: Lexington Books

Published: 2013-08-15

Total Pages: 125

ISBN-13: 073917939X

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Although democracy is in principle associated with popular rule, in practice it is best described as rule by elected elites. This form of government is not only wanting from a theoretical point of view, but it also no longer seems to meet the expectations of large segments of the citizenry. This book offers a blueprint for an alternative democratic model, democracy as popular sovereignty. Starting with the idea that the people, generously defined, are sovereign when they rule as equally valuable and fully participating members of a self-governing collectivity, this model tries to describe the constitutional and institutional arrangements necessary to achieve a workable version of this idea in advanced democratic states. This implies among other changes a greater dose of direct democracy, the use of sortition and a different conception of representation. The overall argument developed combines insights, facts, and findings from normative political theory, empirical political science, democracy’s long history as well as from the recent burgeoning literature on participatory and deliberative democracy.

The Lessons of Rancière

The Lessons of Rancière PDF

Author: Samuel Allen Chambers

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 236

ISBN-13: 0199927219

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What if "liberal democracy" were a contradiction in terms? This book distinguishes liberalism (a logic of order) from democracy (a principle of disordering) to defend a Rancièrean vision of impure politics. Disclosing Rancière's refusal of ontology as political, The Lessons of Rancière enacts a critical theory beyond unmasking and a democratic politics beyond liberalism.

Political Theory In Transition

Political Theory In Transition PDF

Author: Noel O'Sullivan

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-07-04

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 1135359059

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During the past two decades there has been increasing dissatisfaction with established political categories, on the grounds that they no longer fit many of the facts of contemporary life, or adequately express many contemporary political ideals. Political Theory in Transition explores the principal reasons for this dissatisfaction and outlines some of the most influential responses to it. Key features of this textbook: * covers many of the important areas in political theory including: Communitarianism; Identity; Feminism; Liberalism; Citizenship; Democracy; Power; Authority; Legitimacy; Nationalism; Globalization; and the Environment * includes chapters written by some of the foremost authorities in the field of political theory * divided into four useful sections, beginning with the concept of the individual, and progressing to beyond the nation-state.

Peace, Culture, and Violence

Peace, Culture, and Violence PDF

Author: Fuat Gursozlu

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2018-03-06

Total Pages: 294

ISBN-13: 900436191X

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Peace, Culture, and Violence is a collection of essays that examine the forms of violence that permeate everyday life and explore sources of non-violence by considering topics such as thug culture, language, hegemony, police violence, war, terrorism, gender, and anti-Semitism.

Democracy Without Shortcuts

Democracy Without Shortcuts PDF

Author: Cristina Lafont

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2020-01-12

Total Pages: 279

ISBN-13: 0198848188

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This book articulates a participatory conception of deliberative democracy that takes the democratic ideal of self-government seriously. It aims to improve citizens' democratic control and vindicate the value of citizens' participation against conceptions that threaten to undermine it. The book critically analyzes deep pluralist, epistocratic, and lottocratic conceptions of democracy. Their defenders propose various institutional ''shortcuts'' to help solve problems of democratic governance such as overcoming disagreements, citizens' political ignorance, or poor-quality deliberation. However, all these shortcut proposals require citizens to blindly defer to actors over whose decisions they cannot exercise control. Implementing such proposals would therefore undermine democracy. Moreover, it seems naive to assume that a community can reach better outcomes 'faster' if it bypasses the beliefs and attitudes of its citizens. Unfortunately, there are no 'shortcuts' to make a community better than its members. The only road to better outcomes is the long, participatory road that is taken when citizens forge a collective will by changing one another's hearts and minds. However difficult the process of justifying political decisions to one another may be, skipping it cannot get us any closer to the democratic ideal. Starting from this conviction, the book defends a conception of democracy ''without shortcuts''. This conception sheds new light on long-standing debates about the proper scope of public reason, the role of religion in politics, and the democratic legitimacy of judicial review. It also proposes new ways to unleash the democratic potential of institutional innovations such as deliberative minipublics.