{"id":23766,"date":"2009-12-09T10:16:41","date_gmt":"2009-12-09T09:16:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/?p=23766\/"},"modified":"2017-01-21T06:16:43","modified_gmt":"2017-01-21T06:16:43","slug":"modern-politics-is-a-stifling-consensus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/modern-politics-is-a-stifling-consensus\/","title":{"rendered":"Modern politics is a stifling consensus"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is with a thick accent, that the Belgian intellectual Chantal Mouffe speaks of Europe and democracy<\/a> from the podium in the Ceremonial Hall, University of Copenhagen. \u2018Democrrrrracy\u2019, she says. Proof that despite living in London, you can still speak English like a Bond villain.<\/p>\n

It is difficult to understand everything she says, so I\u2019m looking forward to speaking to her one-on-one afterwards. Even if I am a little scared. The audience – mainly consisting of students of Political Science – are all ears, and are leaning forward in their seats, not wanting to miss a thing. Some are even taking notes.<\/p>\n

European Research at the University of Copenhagen (EURECO) has invited Chantal Mouffe as the final speaker in a series of lectures on Europe – Mouffe is to debate Europe\u2019s future based on her own notion of democracy, challenging conventional ideas of what democracy is.<\/p>\n

Ice-queen<\/h2>\n

Chantal Mouffe is a small woman, dressed in black from top to toe, and she is doing a good job of signalling \u2018cold\u2019. The bob haircut is white and pulled into a tight side-parting, and she rarely smiles. Instead, she frowns slightly every time she considers a question from the audience. <\/p>\n

She is the only person not to laugh when someone accidentally calls women a \u2018minority\u2019 in a question, and stares the poor, mistaken guy into the ground.<\/p>\n

Then, when we least expect it, she reveals a sense of humour beneath her cool, serious exterior. Allan Dreyer, lecturer at Roskilde University, has just finished asking a marathon-length question, when she dryly states: \u00bbI\u2019m not going to have time to answer. But I\u2019ll try to. What time is it?\u00ab The hall erupts into laughter.<\/p>\n

So she is human after all. I get my dictaphone.<\/p>\n

The right is on the rise<\/h2>\n

You say we live in a post-political world. Can you elaborate?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00bbBy post-political, I mean a world where there is no longer any difference between left- and right-wing, and where the two categories are outdated. To me, the political world is one and the same as the battle between left and right, but in the post-political world there is a form of consensus built in.\u00ab<\/p>\n

Chantal Mouffe is not a supporter of consensus politics. She believes that a so-called \u2018post-political situation\u2019 gives rise to a dangerous lack of belief in democracy, which in turn is a direct cause for the increasing success of right-wing politics across Europe.<\/p>\n

Getting it together<\/h2>\n

What is the most important task Europe is facing?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00bbThe most important task is to create a strong, political, Europe capable of challenging neoliberalism, which will attempt to control the different nationally-based corporations. That is what I see as the greatest challenge.\u00ab<\/p>\n

But is that at all realistic?<\/em>
\n\u00bbA Europe that isn\u2019t neoliberalist is not unrealistic, but the problem is that the left-wing parties aren\u2019t even capable of challenging neoliberalism on a national level. How can you hope to challenge neoliberalism on a European scale, if you\u2019re not even capable of doing it on a national one?\u00ab<\/p>\n

\u00bbStill, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s utopian to imagine a Europe that veers to the left, but it requires that everyone who hopes to see it happen, works together and fights for it.\u00ab<\/p>\n

Acknowledge national identities<\/h2>\n

In your lecture, you mentioned that we are witnessing an increase of national identities in Europe at the moment. Do you think this will continue?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00bbIt is important to understand that national identity will not disappear with globalisation. Quite the opposite. People revert to national identity because they fear globalisation, but national identities aren\u2019t necessarily a bad thing. It is the way they are constructed that can be problematic.\u00ab<\/p>\n

\u00bbOf course, if national identities are constructed to be against immigrants and the outside world, then it\u2019s negative, but they can also be constructed in a positive manner, and that\u2019s what my project about ‘demoi-cracy’ is about \u2013 acknowledging national identities, but seeing them as something that contributes to the diversity.\u00ab<\/p>\n

Drop the consensus<\/h2>\n

With the term \u2018demoi-cracy\u2019, Mouffe is referring to the Political Theorist, Kalypso Nikola\u00efdis and her article We, The Peoples of Europe<\/a><\/em> from 2004, which sheds doubt on the idea of democracy where Europe is concerned. <\/p>\n

How can democracy be achieved, if a European demos (people, ed.) does not exist? Nikola\u00efdis therefore uses the term demoi<\/em> to emphasise the multitude of participating people.<\/p>\n

The way Chantal Mouffe sees it; the goal is an agonistic Europe, where the differences have a political place. In an agonistic democracy, people with diverging notions of freedom and equality aren\u2019t enemies, but \u2018opponents\u2019 accepting a series of common rules – the diversity in the political Europe needs to be acknowledged, and the idea of a complete consensus dropped.<\/p>\n

uni-avis@adm.ku.dk<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The battle between left and right has been called off, according to leftist political intellectual Chantal Mouffe, and she does not like it<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":23767,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science","expression-news_article"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nModern politics is a stifling consensus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link 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Proof that despite living in London, you can still speak English like a Bond villain.<\/p>\n<p>It is difficult to understand everything she says, so I\u2019m looking forward to speaking to her one-on-one afterwards. Even if I am a little scared. The audience – mainly consisting of students of Political Science – are all ears, and are leaning forward in their seats, not wanting to miss a thing. Some are even taking notes.<\/p>\n<p>European Research at the University of Copenhagen (EURECO) has invited Chantal Mouffe as the final speaker in a series of lectures on Europe – Mouffe is to debate Europe\u2019s future based on her own notion of democracy, challenging conventional ideas of what democracy is.<\/p>\n<h2>Ice-queen<\/h2>\n<p>Chantal Mouffe is a small woman, dressed in black from top to toe, and she is doing a good job of signalling \u2018cold\u2019. The bob haircut is white and pulled into a tight side-parting, and she rarely smiles. Instead, she frowns slightly every time she considers a question from the audience. <\/p>\n<p>She is the only person not to laugh when someone accidentally calls women a \u2018minority\u2019 in a question, and stares the poor, mistaken guy into the ground.<\/p>\n<p>Then, when we least expect it, she reveals a sense of humour beneath her cool, serious exterior. Allan Dreyer, lecturer at Roskilde University, has just finished asking a marathon-length question, when she dryly states: \u00bbI\u2019m not going to have time to answer. But I\u2019ll try to. What time is it?\u00ab The hall erupts into laughter.<\/p>\n<p>So she is human after all. I get my dictaphone.<\/p>\n<h2>The right is on the rise<\/h2>\n<p><em>You say we live in a post-political world. Can you elaborate?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u00bbBy post-political, I mean a world where there is no longer any difference between left- and right-wing, and where the two categories are outdated. To me, the political world is one and the same as the battle between left and right, but in the post-political world there is a form of consensus built in.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>Chantal Mouffe is not a supporter of consensus politics. She believes that a so-called \u2018post-political situation\u2019 gives rise to a dangerous lack of belief in democracy, which in turn is a direct cause for the increasing success of right-wing politics across Europe.<\/p>\n<h2>Getting it together<\/h2>\n<p><em>What is the most important task Europe is facing?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u00bbThe most important task is to create a strong, political, Europe capable of challenging neoliberalism, which will attempt to control the different nationally-based corporations. That is what I see as the greatest challenge.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p><em>But is that at all realistic?<\/em><br \/>\n\u00bbA Europe that isn\u2019t neoliberalist is not unrealistic, but the problem is that the left-wing parties aren\u2019t even capable of challenging neoliberalism on a national level. How can you hope to challenge neoliberalism on a European scale, if you\u2019re not even capable of doing it on a national one?\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbStill, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s utopian to imagine a Europe that veers to the left, but it requires that everyone who hopes to see it happen, works together and fights for it.\u00ab<\/p>\n<h2>Acknowledge national identities<\/h2>\n<p><em>In your lecture, you mentioned that we are witnessing an increase of national identities in Europe at the moment. Do you think this will continue?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u00bbIt is important to understand that national identity will not disappear with globalisation. Quite the opposite. People revert to national identity because they fear globalisation, but national identities aren\u2019t necessarily a bad thing. It is the way they are constructed that can be problematic.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbOf course, if national identities are constructed to be against immigrants and the outside world, then it\u2019s negative, but they can also be constructed in a positive manner, and that\u2019s what my project about ‘demoi-cracy’ is about \u2013 acknowledging national identities, but seeing them as something that contributes to the diversity.\u00ab<\/p>\n<h2>Drop the consensus<\/h2>\n<p>With the term \u2018demoi-cracy\u2019, Mouffe is referring to the Political Theorist, Kalypso Nikola\u00efdis and her article <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cfr.org\/publication.html?id=7484\" target=\"_blank\">We, The Peoples of Europe<\/a><\/em> from 2004, which sheds doubt on the idea of democracy where Europe is concerned. <\/p>\n<p>How can democracy be achieved, if a European demos (people, ed.) does not exist? Nikola\u00efdis therefore uses the term <em>demoi<\/em> to emphasise the multitude of participating people.<\/p>\n<p>The way Chantal Mouffe sees it; the goal is an agonistic Europe, where the differences have a political place. In an agonistic democracy, people with diverging notions of freedom and equality aren\u2019t enemies, but \u2018opponents\u2019 accepting a series of common rules – the diversity in the political Europe needs to be acknowledged, and the idea of a complete consensus dropped.<\/p>\n<p>uni-avis@adm.ku.dk<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"ArticleEnd"},{"acf_fc_layout":"OtherStories","headline":"","hand_picked_posts":false,"references":false,"category":false,"theme":false,"number_of_posts":"4","style":"default"}]},"taxonomyData":{"category":[{"term_id":46,"name":"Science","slug":"science","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":46,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":831,"filter":"raw"}],"post_tag":[],"post_format":[],"expression":[{"term_id":15,"name":"News Article","slug":"news_article","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15,"taxonomy":"expression","description":"","parent":0,"count":11487,"filter":"raw"}],"translation_priority":[]},"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/Mouffe2-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23766"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39745,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23766\/revisions\/39745"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}