Contemporary Political Theory 7 (4):376–394 (2008)
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Abstract |
Agonism is a political theory that places contestation at the heart of politics. Agonistic theorists charge liberal theory with a depoliticization of pluralism through an excessive focus on consensus. This paper examines the agonistic critiques of liberalism from a normative perspective. I argue that by itself the argument from pluralism is not sufficient to support an agonistic account of politics, but points to further normative commitments. Analyzing the work of Mouffe, Honig, Connolly, and Owen, I identify two normative currents of agonistic theory: emancipatory agonism, aimed at challenging violence and exclusion, and perfectionist agonism, aimed at the cultivation of nobility. From a normative perspective the former presents an internal challenge to liberalism, while the latter constitutes an external challenge to liberalism by providing a competing account of the ends of politics. Recognition of the distinction between emancipatory and perfectionist agonism is crucial in assessing the purchase of agonistic critiques of liberalism. Furthermore, this analysis draws us beyond the simple opposition between contestation and consensus. It is not simply a question of valuing genuine pluralism and therefore criticizing consensus; rather the question comes to be: what are the ends of politics?
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Keywords | agonism liberalism emancipation perfectionism pluralism contestation |
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DOI | doi:10.1057/cpt.2008.15 |
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References found in this work BETA
Between Facts and Norms: Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy.Jürgen Habermas (ed.) - 1996 - Polity.
Between Facts and Norms: Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy.Frank I. Michelman & Jurgen Habermas - 1996 - Journal of Philosophy 93 (6):307.
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Citations of this work BETA
Enlightenment Liberalism and the Challenge of Pluralism.Matthew Jones - 2012 - Dissertation, Canterbury Christ Church University
Restoring Society to Post-Structuralist Politics: Mouffe, Gramsci and Radical Democracy.Will Leggett - 2013 - Philosophy and Social Criticism 39 (3):299-315.
The Twilight of the Liberal Social Contract? On the Reception of Rawlsian Political Liberalism.Enzo Rossi - forthcoming - In Kelly Becker & Iain Thomson (eds.), The Cambridge History of Philosophy, 1945–2015. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Democracy as Compromise: An Alternative to the Agonistic Vs. Epistemic Divide.Gustavo H. Dalaqua - 2019 - Kriterion: Journal of Philosophy 60 (144):587-607.
View all 8 citations / Add more citations
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