Democracy
In: Thesis eleven: critical theory and historical sociology, Volume 38, p. 1-15
ISSN: 0725-5136
Argues that democracy has succeeded in establishing itself as the "normal" form of political organization & as the political dimension of a modernity founded on secularization & a market economy. It is further contended that if democracy is to ameliorate the growing opposition between the North, which identifies rationality with power, & the South, which is increasingly shaped by cultural defense & the collapse of subjectivity, it must be redefined & defended against both liberal & revolutionary misconceptions. It is shown that democracy is above all a political condition for the existence of the subject -- a notion that refers to the conflictual unity of freedom & tradition, & to the efforts of human beings to become creators of their collective & individual lives. W. Howard