The Politics of Radical Democracy - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0748633995 ISBN 13: 9780748633999

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press, 2008

Synopsis

This book addresses the idea of radical democracy and, in particular, its poststructuralist articulation. It analyses the approach to radical democracy taken by a number of contemporary theorists and political commentators:, including Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, Judith Butler, William Connolly, Jacques Rancière, Claude Lefort, Sheldon Wolin, Michael Hardt, and Antonio Negri, and Giorgio Agamben. By examining critically the critiques accounts of democracy advanced by these theorists, this volume explores how a more radically conceived theory of democracy might be extended in a more egalitarian and inclusive direction.developed.The strand of radical democracy examined in this book is defined by a number of characteristics:*Democracy is conceptualised understood as a fugitive condition, being open to perpetual disruption and reinvention*The relationship between the state and civil society is regarded as the site where the open-ended 'promise' of democracy is fought out*There is an emphasis on questions of political renewal*There is a deep suspicion of identity-based political claims*Politics is conceived as either the site of or as one of the mechanisms for identity construction* Democratic politics is understood as a politics of contestation and disagreement* Democracy is regarded as always at least partially conflictual and not a means through which violence and conflict can be permanently eradicated*There is a deep suspicion of identity-based political claims*The political is assumed to be ontologically conflictual, with such conflict being understood as ultimately ineradicable from politics, though the form it takes necessarily varies from time to time and context to contextThe book clarifies the concept of radical democracy by mapping the field, and elaborates it further through a critical engagement with the works of its key proponents. In addition, it draws on the insights of radical democratic theory to explore a range of concre

About this title

About the Authors

Adrian Little is Professor of Political Theory at the University of Melbourne. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia in recognition of his research in areas including political theory, democratic politics, Indigenous-settler relations and the politics of Northern Ireland. Previous books include Enduring Conflict (Bloomsbury, 2014), Democratic Piety (Edinburgh University Press, 2008), Democracy and Northern Ireland (Palgrave, 2004) and The Politics of Community (Edinburgh University Press, 2002).

Moya Lloyd is Executive Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Professor of Politics in the Department of Government at the University of Essex.

From the Back Cover

The Politics of Radical DemocracyEdited by Adrian Little and Moya LloydThis book addresses the idea of radical democracy and, in particular, its poststructuralist articulation. It analyses the approach to radical democracy taken by a number of contemporary theorists and political commentators, including Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, Judith Butler, William Connolly, Jacques Rancière, Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri. By examining critically the accounts of democracy advanced by these theorists, this volume explores how a more radically conceived theory of democracy might be developed.The strand of radical democracy examined in this book is defined by a number of characteristics:* Democracy is conceptualised as a fugitive condition, open to perpetual disruption and reinvention*The relationship between the state and civil society is regarded as the site where the open-ended 'promise' of democracy is fought out*There is an emphasis on questions of political renewal*There is a deep suspicion of identity-based political claims*Politics is conceived as either the site of or as one of the mechanisms for identity construction* Democratic politics is understood as a politics of contestation and disagreement* Democracy is regarded as always at least partially conflictual and not a means through which violence and conflict can be permanently eradicatedThe book clarifies the concept of radical democracy by mapping the field, and elaborates it further through a critical engagement with the works of its key proponents. In addition, it draws on the insights of radical democratic theory to explore a range of concrete political cases including the struggles of indigenous people, same-sex marriage, societies emerging from prolonged social and political strife, and the role of social movements in opposing processes of globalization.Adrian Little is Associate Professor and Reader in Political Theory at the University of Melbourne. He is author of several b

Edition details

• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0748633995
• ISBN 13: 9780748633999
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240
• Editor: Little Adrian, Lloyd Moya