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DEMOCRACY
& RESISTANCE
CONFERENCE
June 18-20, 2012
Justus-Liebig University, Giessen, Germany
Organisers: Regina Kreide, Petra Gümplova
The future of democracy is one of the most pressing problems in
contemporary political science
and philosophy. On the one hand, we face
a growing alienation in politics: democratic institutions
and
procedures may be working properly, but important decisions are taken
behind closed doors, and, for the citizens, only an illusion of
democracy persists. On the other hand, citizens worldwide
seem to be
not politically-inactive or de-motivated at all. Instead, we witness
many faces of citizen-resistance and activities against the current
political situation: mass protests in many European cities, riots in
London, and revolts in Northern Africa. We are confronted with two
developments, which, at first glance, aim in different directions:
democracy seems to be both in decline and to rise from the dead at the
same time. What should democratic practices and institutions look like
in a globalised society, and what are the normative principles that
underlie them? This conference will scrutinise both questions and
relate them to one another – an endeavour not often
undertaken in the academic context. Only by combining the perspectives
of different disciplines, can the complexity of these phenomena be
addressed in a fruitful and innovative way, thus bridging the gap in
today’s research.
As the title indicates, the conference will illuminate the tension that
exists between democracy and resistance, especially when considered
from a global perspective: if democratic institutions of fair
representation, inclusive deliberation, and participatory civil society
are in place, forms of resistance can be considered to be undermining
democratic outcomes. On the other hand, if democracy is a way of
organising political participation that is vulnerable to strategic
power-games and tends to privilege the same majority over again, then
resistance seems to be the only way to subvert established privileges
and shake existing institutions. Disrupting regular democratic
procedures may be a genuine element of democracy itself.
The conference topic will be addressed in four steps, which correspond
to four conference sections, concluding with a round table discussion.
Democracy in a Crisis?
The first section discusses the current state of democracy, focusing on
the question of whether there is a crisis of democracy today, and, if
so, what the crisis precisely involves. Democracies are threatened by a
variety of factors. It is not just the economic and financial crisis,
but also climate change and other global risks that create the need for
transnational action and regulation, but the state-framed democratic
embeddedness of decision-making falls short of the mark. Moreover,
there is an erosion of national sovereignty caused by transnational
governance and the globalisation of law and politics. Expert
committees, international organisations, and global corporations
substitute the “will of the people” and legitimate
private international law and other regulations. Furthermore, modern
societies are characterised by a plurality of values, deep conflicts
and divisions. The subject of democracy, the popular sovereign will,
can never be homogeneous and it can never create unity. Considering
these development, some thinkers have concluded that democracy is a
normatively too-demanding conception. Moreover, democracy is not
efficient enough to deal with international economic and financial
requirements, so that we rely better on transnational networks,
administrative steering-mechanisms, and other governance procedures.
Contrary to these claims, there are views according to which we can
understand the current situation only if we see that these
international developments have marginalised those citizens who reclaim
political self-determination through protests, riots and other violent
and non-violent forms of resistance.
To analyse this state of affairs, we must confront a range of
normative, conceptual and sociological questions: What is the nature of
challenges that exceed the traditional notion of democracy? Are we
facing a crisis of democracy, or is it a crisis of social and political
theory that is not yet able or willing to describe the current
challenges for democracy adequately? Does democratic theory suggest how
to overcome the current decline of democratic institutions? And does
resistance acquire a different meaning and role in democracy, given the
dramatic emptying of conventional channels of participation and popular
influence?
Democratic Participation and
Legitimate/Illegitimate Forms of
Resistance
For a deeper understanding of these questions, it will be necessary to
make a second, reflexive step and ask: Does the complexity and
occasional confusion that characterises the debate on democracy and
resistance relate to the fact that there are no valid normative
conceptions that could serve as a basis for a comprehensive democratic
order? If the traditional notion of democracy in political theory is
based upon a conception of popular sovereignty that is closely bound
both to national sovereignty and to state-like institutions outfitted
with administrative power and efficient coercive instruments,
globalisation forces us to ask whether this can still represent an
adequate framework in a globalised world. On the other hand, the more
the state borders no longer determine the range and scope of the
decision-making which, nevertheless, still affects citizens, the more
we need a normative concept of democracy that conceptualises the
possibilities for those citizens affected to participate in their
making, to wit, a concept of democracy that dis-establishes the link
between popular sovereignty and the state. Today, we encounter various
forms of political and economic power and domination that overarch the
context of one demos, and may require citizens to exercise their
political powers and resist against oppression where it appears. But
are they a legitimate part of democracy both within and beyond the
nation state?
Whereas some analysts consider civic revolts and resistance tactics
(boycotts, blockades, strikes, and acts of civil disobedience) to be
legitimate only when they de-legitimise dictatorial rule or initiate a
democratic revolution, others think that resistance, protests and
uprisings are, and should be, an intrinsic element of democracy.
According to the latter position, domestic and worldwide protests,
Twitter and Facebook and “real” revolutions, leaks
(wikileaks) and civil disobedience all need to have a constant place in
democracy. However, whether the consequences for a transnational
democracy can be drawn from this remains an open question.
The section will look at various new and old forms of violent and
non-violent resistance - riots, disobedience, forms of sacrifice such
as hunger-striking, suicide attacks, etc. Under what conditions are
they legitimate or illegitimate? How should democratic theory account
for their occurrence? Special attention should be given to the issue of
violence and violent resistance, which has remained a relatively
unexplored topic in political theory. Is violent resistance a
meaningful means of action? Do violent means bring a democratic change
as well? And how do the aesthetic dimensions of resistance contribute
to subverting dominant normative orders?
Democracy Revisited
Finally, as the conference’s third section will demonstrate,
there are conflicting opinions regarding new forms of democracy,
political participation and modes of resistance, as well as their
implementation. One of the responses in political theory to the
critical diagnosis and the different normative suggestions is the
discourse about how to revise and radicalise democracy. Voicing some
concerns about the capacity of established liberal democracies, with
their systems of competitive representation, deliberation dominated by
élites, and corporations holding sway over the markets,
radical democratic ideas have re-emerged as an important intellectual
current over the past generation to avert the pressures and engage the
energies of ordinary citizens. To the suggestions to re-inforce an
inclusive deliberation process and participation in order to acquire a
direct role for citizens in public choices, radical democrats pointed
out that there are limits to expanding participation and deliberation,
as these institutions only re-inforce a hegemonic position of liberal
version of democracy. Agonistic and pluralistic perspectives emphasise
the inevitability and incommensurability of deep divisions, and hence
come into conflict within pluralistic societies and look at ways in
which democracy provides an arena in which conflicting views are
confronted and the contestation is channelled in positive directions.
This panel is aimed at re-thinking the project of democracy. Pointing
out the limits of available conceptions of radical democracy, the panel
will attempt to outline a new conception of radical democracy, one that
incorporates contemporary conditions – globalisation, the
emergence of world society, new possibilities of political action, and
participation made by technology. The main objective of the discussion
is to link radical democracy to the recent rise in citizen-activity and
revolt, and look at how resistance and revolt can be incorporated to
its conceptual apparatus. How to channel the energy of the broad
popular-mobilisation into constitutional politics and democratic
constitution-making, and thereby potentially enhance the durability of
democratic change? And how can political and social theory contribute
to developing a new framework of radical democratic-theory enriched by
the perspectives of agents acting spontaneously in response to
practical problems?
Economic Crisis and Democracy: A Roundtable
The concluding session is designed primarily as a roundtable discussion
of the most current wave of protests and demonstrations against the
global financial system spreading from New York to London (Occupy Wall
Street, Occupy the London Stock Exchange) and other European cities
which we believe need defining. The discussion touches upon the
question of whether we are witnessing the emergence of new sources of
economic injustice (new kind of economic crisis, new detrimental forms
of capitalism); whether economic crisis (record levels of youth
unemployment, skyrocketing costs of living, wage stagnation, people
drowning in debt, etc.) impairs democracy in particular ways; and
whether the most recent surge of demonstrations in the West is a sign
that capitalism in its current growth-oriented form has reached its
limits and may even start to break down. |
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