Democratic rule is inseparable from the contest over who the people are

Evidence

Democratic politics does not consist in the moment when a fully constituted people exercises its rule. The moment of rule is indissociable from the very struggle about the definition of the people, about the constitution of its identity. Such an identity, however, can never be fully constituted, and it can exist only through multiple and competing forms of Ulmtifications. Liberal democracy is precisely the recognition of this constitutive gap between the people and its various identifications. Hence the importance of leaving this space of contestation forever open, instead of trying to fill it through the establishment of a supposedly ‘rational’ consensus. — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 255

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the core agonistic claim: the people has no pre-given identity; rule and the definition of the people are one struggle.
• DEEPTHINKING: Central to the reader’s test: whether pluralism can work without a permanent enemy — here Mouffe insists the gap between people and identifications is constitutive, but still needs frontiers.
• XREF: connects to: The incommensurability of universal and particular is the precondition for democracy — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2: Identity…, 378

Broader Connections

• The incommensurability of universal and particular is the precondition for democracy #expands (0.75) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 378