"Is it meaningful to call oneself a democrat? And if so, how do you
interpret the word?"
In responding to this question, eight iconoclastic thinkers prove the
rich potential of democracy, along with its critical weaknesses, and
reconceive the practice to accommodate new political and cultural
realities. Giorgio Agamben traces the tense history of constitutions and
their coexistence with various governments. Alain Badiou contrasts
current democratic practice with democratic communism. Daniel Bensaid
ponders the institutionalization of democracy, while Wendy Brown
discusses the democratization of society under neoliberalism. Jean-Luc
Nancy measures the difference between democracy as a form of rule and as
a human end, and Jacques Rancière highlights its egalitarian nature.
Kristin Ross identifies hierarchical relationships within democratic
practice, and Slavoj Zizek complicates the distinction between those who
desire to own the state and those who wish to do without it.
Concentrating on the classical roots of democracy and its changing
meaning over time and within different contexts, these essays uniquely
defend what is left of the left-wing tradition after the fall of Soviet
communism. They confront disincentives to active democratic
participation that have caused voter turnout to decline in western
countries, and they address electoral indifference by invoking and
reviving the tradition of citizen involvement. Passionately written and
theoretically rich, this collection speaks to all facets of modern
political and democratic debate.
