Pluralist democracy means negotiating, not eliminating, its constitutive paradox

Evidence

Hence me need to relinquish the illusion that a rational consensus could ever be achieved where such a tension would be eliminated, and to realize that pluralist democratic politics consists in pragmatic, precarious and necessarily unstable forms of negotiating its constitutive paradox. — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 60

Categorization

• DEFINE: Names the core thesis: pluralist democratic politics is precarious negotiation of a constitutive paradox, not rational consensus.
• XREF: connects to: A workable pluralist democracy must acknowledge its constitutive inclusion-exclusion double movement. — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 263; Agonistic pluralism rejects the ideal of a fully inclusive rational consensus — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 327; Liberal democracy’s liberal-democratic tension is a paradox, not a fatal contradiction — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 53 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Deliberative consensus theories wrongly deny pluralism’s constitutive conflict #expands (0.88) — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 469
• Democratic negotiation is agonistic struggle without final resolution #expands (0.86)
• Conflict legitimation, not consensus, is modern democracy’s condition of existence #corroborates (0.85) — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 463
• Deliberative democracy eliminates pluralism to achieve consensus, leaving it unable to answer Schmitt #corroborates (0.82) — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 225
• Common allegiance to pluralist democratic principles is necessarily a conflictual consensus #exemplifies (0.80) — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 464
• The incommensurability of universal and particular is the precondition for democracy #corroborates (0.75) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 378