Democracy is defined by legitimizing rather than suppressing political conflict
Evidence
But this is to miss a crucial point. not only about the primary reality of strife in social life, but also about the integrative role that conflict plays in modern democracy. As I have argued through these essays, the specificity of modern democracy lies in the recognition and the legitimation of conflict and the refusal to suppress it through the imposition of an authoritarian order. A well-functioning democracy calls for a confrontation between democratic political positions, and this requires a real debate about possible alternatives. — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 502
Categorization
- DEFINE: Core definitional move of agonistic pluralism: conflict legitimation, not suppression, is what marks modern democracy.
- XREF: connects to: Democracy channels contention into bargaining over claim-making boundaries — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 1311; Adversarial conflict among legitimate positions is democracy’s condition, not its danger — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 338; Democratic politics should constitute democratic power, not eliminate it — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 451 (+6 more)
Broader Connections
- Democracy’s task is converting antagonism into agonism, not erasing it
#expands(0.95) — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 584 - Denying antagonism’s ineradicability is the real threat to democracy
#corroborates(0.88) — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 102 - Democracy enables bargaining over contention boundaries that autocrats suppress
#exemplifies(0.80) - Genuine consent to fascism would satisfy purely procedural definitions of democracy
#complicates(0.78) — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 458 - Power-legitimation must come from within democracy itself once unifying worldviews fade
#qualifies(0.74) — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 92