Leiden University Student Repository

Wrocławski, Grzegorz 2018

The Limits of Political Contestation and Plurality. The Role of the State in Agonistic Theories of Democracy

Master thesis | Philosophy (MA) (60 EC)

open access

There is an ongoing debate in the field of political philosophy about what is an agonistic democracy and how its meaning relates to other political or philosophical concepts such as plurality,...Show moreThere is an ongoing debate in the field of political philosophy about what is an agonistic democracy and how its meaning relates to other political or philosophical concepts such as plurality, political contestation, and the state. The following thesis, on the basis of the concrete meaning of agonistic democracy, attempts to show what are the appropriate limits of political contestation and plurality within an agonistic democracy, and what is the role of the state within such a type of political community. Specifically, it investigates what are the maximum and minimum limits (thresholds) of plurality and political contestation within an agonistic democracy, and how they can be maintained in the long run. The particular form and content of the postulated threshold is based on the fundamental postulates of the theories of agonistic democracy. Moreover, it argues that if an agonistic democracy is to be maintained in the long run, it needs to incorporate in it a specific type of the agonistic state. Without such an incorporation, it is argued that either established threshold of political contestation and plurality will be transgressed by the agonistic citizenry, or this political community won't be feasible and appealing to potential democratic communities, which might be interested in its establishment.Show less