Democracy Today.indb - Universidade do Minho

of a pluralist democracy is at the same time the condition of impossibility
of its perfect implementation. Hence, the importance of acknowledging
its paradoxical nature.” [13]
According to Mouffe, contemporary politics fails to acknowledge
this paradoxical nature of pluralist democracy. Inspired by philosophers
like Rawls and Habermas, contemporary politics pays a good deal of
attention to dialogue and consensus but neglects the important role of
conflict and contestation. As a consequence, political parties gather in
the centre, and the traditional left-right division seems to fade away.
The idea arises that we have overcome this division and instituted
a more or less perfect democratic way of living together – at least in
the minds of politicians. But we pay a heavy price for this. We fail to
represent existing antagonisms in the public realm, and, as a result,
these antagonisms are often criminalized or marginalized. Terrorism
or blind violence could be seen as symptoms of this evolution. Another
symptom is growing political indifference, as we all seem to agree that
it no longer matters if we participate in politics or not.
Indifference and radicalization are the result of a politics which
is no longer able to offer alternatives to the existing situation, and,
as such, precludes the possibility of hope. According to Mouffe, an
agonistic model of democracy that keeps conflict and contestation
alive can avoid this. In an agonistic democracy, several legitimate but
irreconcilable alternatives are recognized and the possibility of change
is always kept open. This results in the flourishing of hope, because
people can truly believe in change, and politics can claim to realize this
change. That is why Mouffe holds a plea for the re-institutionalization
of the traditional left-right division:
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DEMOCRACY, HOPE
AND NIHILISM
Thomas Decreus
“A well functioning democracy calls for a clash of legitimate democratic
positions. This is what the confrontation between left and right needs
to be about. Such a confrontation should provide forms of identification
strong enough to mobilize political passions.” [14]
13
Mouffe (2009) 16.
14
Mouffe (2005) 30.