La democratie radicale de Jurgen Habermas. Entre socialisme et anarchie

In: Revue française de science politique, Band 58, Heft 1, S. 39-67

Abstract

Jurgen Habermas is probably the intellectual whose writings had the biggest political influence in Europe in the last twenty years. Amongst its numerous works, Right & Democracy might well be the most important in this respect. In this book, Habermas explains its conception of democracy, & more widely of politics. He lays down the theoretical foundations of what he names a "radical democracy," a democracy that would not be based on the natural rights of man anymore, but on what Habermas dubs "the discussion principle." Such a democracy seems necessary to him to combine the individual freedoms of the liberal tradition with the redistributive functions of the Welfare State. The present article tries to assess the solidity of the foundations of this "radical democracy" for which Habermas is striving. Adapted from the source document.