Democracy unbound? Non-linear politics and the politicization of everyday life

Bibliographic Data

ID2398032
AuthorsDavid Chandler (0000-0002-2766-7169, University of Westminster, corresponding author)
Year2014
Volume17
Issue1
Pages42-59
Publication date2014-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Journal of Social Theory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1368-4310 • E-ISSN: 1461-7137
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1368431013491817
OpenAlexW2111537913
LanguageEN
Citations received13
References cited48

In liberal modernity, the democratic collective will of society was understood to emerge through the public and deliberative freedoms of associational life. Today, however, democratic discourse is much more focused on the formation of plural and diverse publics in the private and social sphere. In these 'non-linear' approaches, democracy is no longer seen to operate to constitute a collective will standing above society but as a mechanism to distribute power more evenly through the social empowerment of individuals and communities as the ultimate decision-makers. Government is brought back 'to the people' and democracy is seen to circulate through the personal decisions made in everyday life. This article seeks to analyse the development of non-linear approaches to the political sphere, which seek to overcome the rationalist assumptions of the public/private divide, paying particular attention to the work of two key liberal theorists, John Dewey and Friedrich von Hayek

Deliberative democracy · Democracy · Empowerment · Law and economics · Liberal democracy · Modernity · Plural · Political science · Politics · Public sphere · Sociology · Critical Theory and Philosophy · Law · Management and Organizational Studies · Political Economy and Marxism

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