Democracy to Come: Politics as Relational Praxis
Fred Dallmayr
Abstract
The book seeks to lay the groundwork for a new conception of democracy. By contrast to traditional views which located its distinctive character simply in the expansion of the number of rulers, the book presents the rise of modern democracy as a basic ‘paradigm shift’ involving multiple dimensions of change (including political, metaphysical, and even theological dimensions). Harking back to Montesquieu’s stress on the needed ‘spirit of equality,’ the new conception focuses on ethical ‘relationality’ and human ‘potentionality,’ that is, on the cultivation of ethical relations with others and t ... More
The book seeks to lay the groundwork for a new conception of democracy. By contrast to traditional views which located its distinctive character simply in the expansion of the number of rulers, the book presents the rise of modern democracy as a basic ‘paradigm shift’ involving multiple dimensions of change (including political, metaphysical, and even theological dimensions). Harking back to Montesquieu’s stress on the needed ‘spirit of equality,’ the new conception focuses on ethical ‘relationality’ and human ‘potentionality,’ that is, on the cultivation of ethical relations with others and the potentiality for genuine engagement (on an equal basis). In this manner, the modal radically challenges the dominant (liberal) conception anchored in egocentrism, voluntarism, and individual or collective self-interests. More specifically, the new model is predicated on the tensional balance of three key elements: the ‘people’ (potentia); political actors or policy makers (potestas); and the political aim or purpose (‘good life,’ bonum commune). The book extends the relational model to the global level, insisting on progressive indigenous democratization without hegemonically imposed ‘regime change.’
Keywords:
democracy as ‘paradigm shift’,
spirit of equality,
ethical relationality,
potentiality,
people (potentia),
political agents (potestas),
good life,
indigenous democratization,
contra hegemonic ‘regime change.’
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2017 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780190670979 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: May 2017 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190670979.001.0001 |
