Democracy

'A vibrant democracy needs agonistic confrontation' - An interview with Chantal Mouffe

Agonism

My view is that what democracy should try to do is to create the institutions which allows for conflict - when it emerges - to take an agonistic form, a form of adversarial confrontation instead of antagonism between enemies. But when antagonisms already exist to transform them is of course is much more difficult but it's not impossible and I think one of the good examples is Northern Ireland. Because in Northern Ireland we had for a long time an antagonistic conflict between Protestants and Catholics. They were treating each other as enemies. Now since the Good Friday Agreement and with the institutions that have been created there is no more antagonism, there is an agonism. It doesn't mean that these people agree, they do disagree but they disagree in a way that they no longer see the other community as an enemy to be destroyed.

Chantal Mouffe is a Belgian political theorist well known for her conception of radical and agonistic democracy. She is currently Professor of Political Theory at Westminster University where she also directs the Centre for the Study of Democracy.

Updated on: 22 July 2013

‘The reassertion of the political’- an interview with Tariq Ali on the future of European citizenship

The reassertion of the political

I think the European Union promised a great deal and delivered very little.  Voting rights seem to have become totally irrelevant because whoever you elected, it didn’t matter which party, they were carrying out the same elite policies. Greece has made a difference and this will inspire people.  But in order for that to happen you do need to have political instruments and political parties.  It can’t just happen by occupying public spaces.  You know, you need politics for that. And so what we are witnessing in Greece is, in a way, the reassertion of the political and I think that will be extremely important in saying ‘yes, we are citizens; we don’t just have, you know, basic rights.  We have political rights and we want to exercise these political rights and link them to social and economic rights.'

Tariq Ali is a novelist, journalist and political campaigner whose most recent books include Protocols of the Elders of Sodom and Other Essays (2009), Night of the Golden Butterfly (2010) and The Obama Syndrome (2010). In May 2012 he spoke at the Zagreb Subversive Forum, where he was interviewed by Nick Holdstock.

Updated on: 7 September 2012

Subversive Forum: What is the future of Europe and its citizens?

Nick Holdstock
Subversive Forum

The 5th Zagreb Subversive Festival included the Subversive Film Festival, an international conference named The Future of Europe at which leading stars of the local and international intellectual and activist scene will gather, such as Slavoj Žižek, Samir Amin, Tariq Ali, G.C. Spivak, Michael Hardt, Gianni Vattim, Stéphane Hessel, the Subversive Forum – a platform for alternative social mobilization, and the Balkan Forum in which over forty organisations, trade unions and individuals will come together in an attempt to lay the foundations for future collaboration and networking in both European and worldwide movements with the aim of further integration.

 

Nick Holdstock attended the Subversive Forum in Zagreb from May 13th-May 18th. In the following piece he revisits some of the themes and questions that this gathering of intellectuals, academics and activists considered during the Forum.

The European Crisis

Updated on: 24 October 2012

The Other Europe 20 Years Later, an interview with Jacques Rupnik

A boat with no direction?

Jacques Rupnik, professor at the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po), on unfinished states, hollow democracies in Eastern Europe, and EU enlargement.

Interview with Jacques Rupnik conducted by Igor Stiks and Gëzim Krasniqi

Updated on: 24 July 2012
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