Pub Date : 2021-06-20DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780192898869.003.0002
Sofia Näsström
The chapter critically examines the sovereign people as the foundation of modern democracy. More specifically, it asks what allegiance to the sovereign people entails for how one addresses conflicts on the nature of modern democracy: who should govern. The central argument made in the chapter is that commitment to the sovereign people leads to a trap. It spurs disillusionment with democracy’s capacity to adjudicate conflicting claims on who “we, the people” are under conditions of globalization, migration, and secession. By letting go of Rousseau’s legacy and introducing the work of Montesquieu, this chapter initiates the reorientation of democratic theory from sovereignty to spirit.
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Pub Date : 2021-06-20DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780192898869.003.0004
Sofia Näsström
The chapter explores the meaning of democratic freedom. Building on the work of Hannah Arendt, it demonstrates that the long-standing debate between liberalism and republicanism does not exhaust the meaning of freedom. There is a unique conception of democratic freedom built into the democratic revolution, defined as the capacity to begin anew. The chapter clarifies what is democratic about this conception, and how it differs from positive freedom, conventionally understood. It shows that democratic freedom, defined as the capacity to begin anew offers a much-needed alternative to the many liberal and republican conceptions of freedom that dominate contemporary political theory, including freedom as non-interference, non-domination and self-determination.
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Pub Date : 2021-06-20DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780192898869.003.0003
Sofia Näsström
The chapter inquires into the spirit of the democratic revolution. Instead of focusing on its nature—the symbolic shift from the sovereign king to the sovereign people—it concentrates on its principle: How could the monarchical principle of honor, and its designation of society into a hierarchy of social classes give way to a revolutionary quest for equality? Assuming that part of the answer lies in the overwhelming experience of uncertainty that accompanies the democratic revolution, the chapter distinguishes between three meanings of uncertainty—cosmic, human, and political—and reconstructs the democratic meaning of emancipation. The aim is to show that a democratic political lifeform tames uncertainty by sharing and dividing it equally. It emancipates us from a state of self-incurred tutelage.
{"title":"The Principle of Emancipation","authors":"Sofia Näsström","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780192898869.003.0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192898869.003.0003","url":null,"abstract":"The chapter inquires into the spirit of the democratic revolution. Instead of focusing on its nature—the symbolic shift from the sovereign king to the sovereign people—it concentrates on its principle: How could the monarchical principle of honor, and its designation of society into a hierarchy of social classes give way to a revolutionary quest for equality? Assuming that part of the answer lies in the overwhelming experience of uncertainty that accompanies the democratic revolution, the chapter distinguishes between three meanings of uncertainty—cosmic, human, and political—and reconstructs the democratic meaning of emancipation. The aim is to show that a democratic political lifeform tames uncertainty by sharing and dividing it equally. It emancipates us from a state of self-incurred tutelage.","PeriodicalId":359123,"journal":{"name":"The Spirit of Democracy","volume":"6 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133617730","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-06-20DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780192898869.003.0008
Sofia Näsström
The final chapter of the book takes stock, and asks what light it can shed on the present crisis of democracy: What can one see or do with this new conceptualization of democracy as spirit that one could not see or do before? Conversely, what issues have been framed out of vision? The chapter goes through the major findings in the shift from sovereignty to spirit, with a specific focus on how it reorients the discussion on populism, elitism, and the resurgence of authoritarianism. It also touches upon three major issues that fall beyond the scope of the book, namely how the spirit of democracy relates to the state, the nation, and the market respectively.
{"title":"Conclusion","authors":"Sofia Näsström","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780192898869.003.0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192898869.003.0008","url":null,"abstract":"The final chapter of the book takes stock, and asks what light it can shed on the present crisis of democracy: What can one see or do with this new conceptualization of democracy as spirit that one could not see or do before? Conversely, what issues have been framed out of vision? The chapter goes through the major findings in the shift from sovereignty to spirit, with a specific focus on how it reorients the discussion on populism, elitism, and the resurgence of authoritarianism. It also touches upon three major issues that fall beyond the scope of the book, namely how the spirit of democracy relates to the state, the nation, and the market respectively.","PeriodicalId":359123,"journal":{"name":"The Spirit of Democracy","volume":"119 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123030500","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The chapter examines the corruption, disintegration, and renewal of democracy in relation to election. Taking issue with two canonized views on election, it shows that neither the liberal nor the republican version captures its emancipatory spirit; how it tames and shapes the essential uncertainties of the future equally. What makes election democratic is that it gives institutional body to the principle of emancipation, and secures our freedom to begin anew. On this basis, the chapter elaborates on the meaning of democratic corruption. It distinguishes between three democratic “tyrannies” in electoral politics based on distinction, virtue, and emancipation respectively: the tyranny of the majority, the tyranny of the minority, and the tyranny of novelty. It ends by discussing the future role of election as path to democratic disintegration, on the one hand, and democratic renewal, on the other.
{"title":"Election","authors":"Sofia Näsström","doi":"10.1163/_q3_sim_00128","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/_q3_sim_00128","url":null,"abstract":"The chapter examines the corruption, disintegration, and renewal of democracy in relation to election. Taking issue with two canonized views on election, it shows that neither the liberal nor the republican version captures its emancipatory spirit; how it tames and shapes the essential uncertainties of the future equally. What makes election democratic is that it gives institutional body to the principle of emancipation, and secures our freedom to begin anew. On this basis, the chapter elaborates on the meaning of democratic corruption. It distinguishes between three democratic “tyrannies” in electoral politics based on distinction, virtue, and emancipation respectively: the tyranny of the majority, the tyranny of the minority, and the tyranny of novelty. It ends by discussing the future role of election as path to democratic disintegration, on the one hand, and democratic renewal, on the other.","PeriodicalId":359123,"journal":{"name":"The Spirit of Democracy","volume":"26 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123163476","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-06-20DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780192898869.003.0007
Sofia Näsström
The chapter examines the corruption, disintegration, and renewal of democracy in relation to citizenship status. It shows that the prerogative of sovereign peoples to control migration and decide their own membership criteria undermines the commitment needed for democracy to sustain over time. Instead of making citizens sentient to how uncertainty travels across borders—and the need for reaching outside existing class affiliations to tame it—it spurs overconfidence in the ability of particular peoples to cope with migration. By basing membership on distinction (qualifications, skills, and resources) and virtue (loyalty to country and law), one reinforces class status over citizenship status, both at home and abroad. The chapter ends by offering a definition of citizenship status able to avoid this dilemma, and transform present-day uncertainties into a call for democratic renewal.
{"title":"Citizenship Status","authors":"Sofia Näsström","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780192898869.003.0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192898869.003.0007","url":null,"abstract":"The chapter examines the corruption, disintegration, and renewal of democracy in relation to citizenship status. It shows that the prerogative of sovereign peoples to control migration and decide their own membership criteria undermines the commitment needed for democracy to sustain over time. Instead of making citizens sentient to how uncertainty travels across borders—and the need for reaching outside existing class affiliations to tame it—it spurs overconfidence in the ability of particular peoples to cope with migration. By basing membership on distinction (qualifications, skills, and resources) and virtue (loyalty to country and law), one reinforces class status over citizenship status, both at home and abroad. The chapter ends by offering a definition of citizenship status able to avoid this dilemma, and transform present-day uncertainties into a call for democratic renewal.","PeriodicalId":359123,"journal":{"name":"The Spirit of Democracy","volume":"50 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114353138","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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