Rejecting consensus as impossible protects democracy from closure

Evidence

Contrary to other projects of radical or participatory democracy informed by a rationalistic framework, radical and plural democracy rejects the very possibility of a non-exclusive public sphere of rational argument where a non-coercive consensus could be attained. By showing that such a consensus is a conctptual impossibility, it does not put in jeopardy the democratic ideal, as some would argue. On the contrary, it protects pluralist democracy against any attempts at closure. Indeed. such a rejection constitutes an important guarantee that the dynamics of (he democratic process wiu be kept alive. — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 146

Categorization

• SEED: A counterintuitive reversal worth an essay angle: the move that seems to destabilize democracy (ceasing to believe in its perfectibility) is actually what keeps it alive - anti-foundationalism as a democratic safeguard.
• XREF: Ties to Mouffe’s later claims about the political as the ever-present antagonistic dimension and the ‘democratic paradox’ of legitimacy vs. plurality. — connects to: Horizontal protest collectives cannot negotiate because they lack decision mechanisms — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 445; Adversarial conflict among legitimate positions is democracy’s condition, not its danger — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 338; Blocking democratic closure requires abandoning the ideal of stable consensus grounded in justice — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 357 (+16 more)

Broader Connections

• Undecidability, not consensus, is the condition of democratic freedom #corroborates (0.90) — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 150
• Polities cannot function without shared consensus, even autocratic ones #complicates (0.82) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1158
• Deliberative democracy is agonal dissent atop constitutional consensus, not consensus-seeking talk. #qualifies (0.80) — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 19
• Deliberative democracy eliminates pluralism to achieve consensus, leaving it unable to answer Schmitt #complicates (0.78) — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 225
• Common allegiance to pluralist democratic principles is necessarily a conflictual consensus #qualifies (0.76) — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 464
• Consensus is shaped and structured by unequal power rather than freely formed #qualifies (0.75) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 919
• Democracy’s need for consensus forces complicity with the mafia #complicates (0.72)