Theorizing Democracy as a Quality, Reality, and Ideologeme
Keywords:
contestation, democracy, democratic theory, ideologeme, ideology, sovereignty
Abstract
In today’s world “democracy” and “democratic legitimacy” are normatively dominant, making even the harshest dictators refer to “the will of the people.” At the same time, dissatisfaction with “real existing democracy” is widespread and increasing, particularly in long-standing democratic societies. If we understand democracy, primarily, as a possible quality of practices and procedures, rather than as a regime or a type of government, we can address such issues. Understanding democracy as a quality, consisting in those being affected by decisions having a “say” in those decisions, clarifies the ongoing struggle to actually have that say (which explains both the Tea Party and Nuit debout). It explains how the—inevitable—institutionalization of democratic practices and particularly their reduction to elections leads to a gap that either invites democratic innovation, or is bridged ideologically with key ideologemes like “the People” or “popular sovereignty”—an ideology which is not in contradiction with reality, but makes existing democratic realities more democratic than they actually are.
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Habermas, Jürgen (2011b). Zur Verfassung Europas. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.
Hanson, Russell (1995). “Democracy” [1989]. In Political Innovation and Conceptual Change, eds. Terence Ball, James Farr, Russell L. Hanson, 68–89. Cambridge: Cam- bridge University Press.
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Hayek, Friedrich A. (1979). Law, Legislation and Liberty, vol. 3: The Political Order of a Free People. Chicago: University of Chicago Press
Heywood, Andrew (1992). Political Ideologies: An Introduction. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Honig, Bonnie (2009). Emergency Politics; Paradox, Law, Democracy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Irigaray, Luce (1977). “Quand nos lèvres se parlent.” In Ce sexe qui n’en est pas un, 203–17. Paris: Minuit.
Isakhan, Benjamin, and Stephen Stockwell, eds. (2012). The Secret History of Democracy. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Jameson, Fredric (1981). The Political Unconscious; Narrative as a Socially Symbolic Act. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Jaume, Lucien, ed. (1989). Les declarations des droits de l’homme (du Débat 1789–1793 au Préambule de 1946). Paris: Flammarion.
Keane, John (2009). The Life and Death of Democracy. London: Pocket Books.
Lefort, Claude (1986). Essais sur le politique. XIXe–XXe siècles. Paris: Éditions du Seuil.
Leijssenaar, et al (2014). Futures of Democracy, eds. Bas Leijssenaar, Judith Martens and Evert van der Zweerde. Eindhoven: Wilde Raven.
Maier, Pauline, ed. (1998). The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. New York: Bantam Books.
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Peperzak, Adriaan T. (2001). Modern Freedom; Hegel’s Legal, Moral, and Political Philoso- phy. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic.
Rancière, Jacques (2005). La haine de la démocratie. Paris: La fabrique.
Rosanvallon, Pierre (2006). La contre-démocratie; la politique à l’âge de la défiance. Paris: Éditions du Seuil.
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Schmitt, Carl (1996 [1922]). Politische theologie: vier kapitel zur lehre von der souveränität. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot.
Schmitt, Carl (1996 [1923]). Die geistesgeschichtliche lage des heutigen parlamentarismus. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot. te Velde, Henk, ed. (2006). De grondwet van Nederland. Amsterdam: Athenaeum–Polak & Van Gennep.
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Zweerde, Evert van der (2013). “The Rise of the People and the Political Philosophy of the Vekhi Authors.” In Landmarks Revisited; The Vekhi Symposium 100 Years On, eds. Robin Aizlewood and Ruth Coates, 104–27. Boston: Academic Studies Press.
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Zweerde, Evert van der (2015). “Democratic Repertoires: the South Caucasus case(s).” In Religion, Nation and Democracy in the South Caucasus, eds. Alexander Agad- janian, Ansgar Jödicke and Evert van der Zweerde, 38–56. London: Routledge.
Žižek, Slavoj (2002). For They Know Not What They Do: Enjoyment as a Political Factor [1991]. London: Verso.
Published
2017-07-24
How to Cite
van der Zweerde, E. (2017). Theorizing Democracy as a Quality, Reality, and Ideologeme. Stasis, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.33280/2310-3817-2017-5-1-248-269
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