Il "politico" nell'era "postpolitica". Alcuni appunti sulla proposta teorica di Chantal Mouffe

2009 ◽  
pp. 89-132
Author(s):  
Damiano Palano
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Carl Schmitt ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Crucial Aspect ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
Symbolic Space ◽  
Chantal Mouffe ◽  
Western Democracy ◽  
Agonistic Democracy

- This essay concerns the reflection of Chantal Mouffe about the "politica" and the transformation of contemporary political systems. The paper reconstructs the main features of Mouffe's reflection, with special regard to the influence of Carl Schmitt and the concept of "agonistic democracy". For Mouffe, the friend/enemy opposition is the (not eliminable) hearth of the "politica", but this opposition is not the only form of antagonism. From Mouffe's point of view, "agoism" is a different mode of manifestation of antagonism, which involves a relation not between enemies but between "adversares", "friendly enemies" friends because they share a common symbolic space but also enemies because they want to organize this common symbolic space in a different way. The "postpolitica" age removes the enemy (even the "friendly enemy") from the symbolic space of western democracy, and enemy is represented as hostis generis humani. For this paper, Mouffe's perspective offers an important contribution to contemporary political debate, but the study shows a danger in her interpretation of Schmitt's political theory. For the German thinker, the amicus/hostis opposition is rooted in a spatial conception of the "politica", but Mouffe fails to consider this crucial aspect of Schmitt's reflection, with consequences on the image of the "postpoliticalage". In fact, without a spatial ground and without attention to the contemporary "spatial revoluton", she achieves a form of theoretical "voluntarsm" and moves toward a moralistic vision of the moralization of politics.

An Approach to the Analysis of Political Systems

1957 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 383-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Easton
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Strict Sense ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Small Step ◽  
Social Science Theory ◽  
Science Theory ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Alternative Approaches

IN an earlier work I have argued for the need to develop general, empirically oriented theory as the most economical way in the long run to understand political life. Here I propose to indicate a point of view that, at the least, might serve as a springboard for discussion of alternative approaches and, at most, as a small step in the direction of a general political theory. I wish to stress that what I have to say is a mere orientation to the problem of theory; outside of economics and perhaps psychology, it would be presumptuous to call very much in social science “theory,” in the strict sense of the term.

What’s “Left” in Schmitt?

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew G. Specter
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
International Politics ◽  
Third Reich ◽  
Carl Schmitt ◽  
The Political ◽  
Constitutional Theory ◽  
The Third ◽  
Chantal Mouffe ◽  
The Third Reich

Since the mid-1980s, the Western Left has split on how to evaluate the political and constitutional theory of Carl Schmitt. The analysis traces and historicizes a movement from aversion to appropriation of Schmitt’s writings in contemporary political theory. In the first half of the chapter Habermas is presented as developing his own positions in part through deep engagements with Schmitt’s thought. In the second half of the chapter, three contemporary political philosophers who are grouped under the label “left-Schmittian” are profiled. Contemporary left-Schmittians try to circumvent the Schmitt compromised by the “Third Reich,” but sometimes by diluting him beyond recognition. Close readings of Gopal Balakrishnan, Andreas Kalyvas, and Chantal Mouffe support the argument that contemporary left-Schmittians create a theory of domestic and international politics that are either normatively or institutionally deficient.

The Role of the Representative: Some Empirical Observations on the Theory of Edmund Burke

1959 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 742-756 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heinz Eulau ◽  
John C. Wahlke ◽  
William Buchanan ◽  
Leroy C. Ferguson
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Body Politic ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Edmund Burke ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
General Consensus ◽  
History Of

The problem of representation is central to all discussions of the functions of legislatures or the behavior of legislators. For it is commonly taken for granted that, in democratic political systems, legislatures are both legitimate and authoritative decision-making institutions, and that it is their representative character which makes them authoritative and legitimate. Through the process of representation, presumably, legislatures are empowered to act for the whole body politic and are legitimized. And because, by virtue of representation, they participate in legislation, the represented accept legislative decisions as authoritative. But agreement about the meaning of the term “representation” hardly goes beyond a general consensus regarding the context within which it is appropriately used. The history of political theory is studded with definitions of representation, usually embedded in ideological assumptions and postulates which cannot serve the uses of empirical research without conceptual clarification.

Global Governance in the “Anthropocene”

2018 ◽  
pp. 466-478
Author(s):  
Frank Biermann
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Global Governance ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Research Topics ◽  
Planetary Evolution ◽  
Village Level ◽  
International Political Theory ◽  
New Challenges ◽  
The Village

The concept of an Anthropocene is now widely used in a variety of contexts, communities, and connotations. This chapter explores the possible consequences of this paradigmatic turn for the field of International Political Theory (IPT), arguing that the notion of an Anthropocene is likely to change the way we understand political systems both analytically and normatively, from the village level up to the United Nations. This makes the Anthropocene one of the most demanding, and most interesting, research topics for the field of IPT. The chapter first lays out the manifold new challenges for IPT that have been brought about by the concept of the Anthropocene, and then illustrates these challenges with an example: the increasing need of governments to define and agree upon “desirable” futures for planetary evolution.

scholarly journals Konflikt jako wartość? Demokracja agonistyczna a populizm europejski w ujęciu Chantal Mouffe

2018 ◽  
pp. 219-233
Author(s):  
Filip Biały
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Irrational Beliefs ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
The Public ◽  
Chantal Mouffe ◽  
Emotional Component ◽  
Agonistic Democracy ◽  
The Public Sphere

One of the most intriguing questions in political philosophy has long been the following: how to organize politics that not only appeases the conflict of groups and individuals but also allows to express even irrational beliefs. The answer that this article has dealt with is a proposition by Chantal Mouffe, called ‘agonistic democracy’. The concept is based on an claim that the exclusion of an emotional component from the public sphere can only lead to a political conflict. An example that confirms Mouffe’s assumptions is the expansion of European populism, which, according to the theory discussed in the article, may only be contained through recognizing the positive value of the conflictive nature of politics.

scholarly journals Premises of Sustainable Development Concept Occurence

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-53
Author(s):  
Elisabeta-Emilia Halmaghi ◽  
Mihai-Marcel Neag
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Animal Species ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Pesticide Use ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
Toxic Product ◽  
Difficult Issue

Abstract It has long been considered that the environment can withstand all the pressure exerted by human activities on it: extensive agriculture, pesticide use, strong industrialization, noxious gas emissions into the atmosphere, toxic product discharge into lakes, rivers, seas and oceans, massive deforestation to obtain new areas for housing or agriculture. The result was environmental and soil degradation, increased water and/or air pollution, climate change, biodiversity loss, the disappearance of plant and/or animal species, the depletion of some natural resources. These environmental changes have begun to be studied by specialists in the field, who have raised a flag to irreversible environmental changes. The concept of “sustainable development” arose at a time when environmental issues were at the heart of political debate: sustainable development is seen as a complex and difficult issue to solve because there is a diversity of interests of different states. International agreements and cooperation from the point of view of globalization and economic harmonization have also had as their object the issues of sustainable development, by launching the attempt to reconcile the economy with the environment.

scholarly journals On the Enlightenment of Humanistic Curriculum Theory to the Reform of Ideological and Political Theory Course in Colleges and Universities

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Chen
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Teaching Methods ◽  
Curriculum Theory ◽  
Colleges And Universities ◽  
Teaching Evaluation ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Basic Point ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Teaching Content ◽  
Humanistic Curriculum

Humanistic curriculum theory has important guiding significance for the reform of Ideological and political theory course in Colleges and universities. This paper expounds the basic point of view of the humanistic curriculum theory, analyzes the problems existing in the teaching content, teaching methods and teaching evaluation of the ideological and political theory course in Colleges and universities at this stage, and puts forward some suggestions on the reform of the ideological and political course in Colleges and Universities under the guidance of the humanistic curriculum theory.

Restoring Catharine Macaulay’s Enlightenment Republicanism?

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 39-57
Author(s):  
Karen Green ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Tragedy Of The Commons ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Moral Law ◽  
Moral Principles ◽  
The Commons

Can Catharine Macaulay’s enlightenment democratic republicanism be justified from the point of view of contemporary naturalism? Naturalist accounts of political authority tend to be realist and pessimistic, foreclosing the possibility of enlightenment. Macaulay’s utopian political philosophy relies on belief in a good God, whose existence underpins the possibility of moral and political progress. This paper attempts a restoration of her optimistic utopianism in a reconciliation, grounded in a revision of natural law, of naturalist and utopian attitudes to political theory. It is proposed that the coevolution of language, moral law, and conscience (the disposition to judge one’s own actions in the light of moral principles) can be explained as solutions to the kinds of tragedy of the commons situations facing our ancestors. Moral dispositions evolved, but, in the light of its function, law is subject to rational critique. Liberal democracy plausibly offers the best prospect for developing rationally justifiable law.

Discursive turns and critical junctures

2020 ◽  
pp. 198-213
Author(s):  
Donatella della Porta ◽  
Pietro Castelli Gattinara ◽  
Konstantinos Eleftheriadis ◽  
Andrea Felicetti
Keyword(s):  
Point Of View ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Theoretical Point ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
Citizenship Rights ◽  
Public Spheres ◽  
Critical Junctures ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Opening Up

The concluding chapter goes back to the theoretical debates presented in chapter 1, synthetizing the main empirical results of the various parts of our analysis as well as reflecting on the theoretical implications. From the theoretical point of view, the aim has been to analyze transformative events in order to trace their effects on the content and form of the debate in multiple public spheres. The research addressed discursive turns during a critical juncture that changed in the political debate. Empirically, the Charlie Hebdo controversy represented a most important moment in the assessment of collective understandings of citizenship, broadly understood as setting the boundaries of who is inside and who is outside. Opening up to future research in the field, the chapter speculates on the impact of the debate we have addressed in structuring the evolving debate over citizenship and citizenship rights.

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