Democracy, Human Rights and History

Reading Lefort

Bibliographic Data

ID6260064
AuthorsRaf Geenens (0000-0003-1222-9139, Catholic University of Brussels,, corresponding author)
Year2008
Volume7
Issue3
Pages269-286
Publication date2008-07-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Journal of Political Theory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1474-8851 • E-ISSN: 1741-2730
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1474885108089172
OpenAlexW2068818961
LanguageEN
Citations received14

This article offers an overview of the French political philosopher Claude Lefort's oeuvre, arguing that his work should be read as a normative or even universalist justification of democracy and human rights. The notion of history plays a crucial notion in this enterprise, as Lefort demonstrates that there is an ineluctable 'historical' or 'political' condition of human coexistence, a condition that can only be properly accommodated in a regime of democracy and human rights. This reading of Lefort is contrasted with two other interpretations of his work. The first of these, by Sofia Nasstrom, is shown to overlook the importance of history in Lefort's understanding of democracy. The second, by Bernard Flynn, is shown to overlook the universalist implications of Lefort's theory

Democracy · Epistemology · Human rights · Normative · Political philosophy · Political science · Politics · Reading (process · Sociology · European Political History Analysis · Law · Philosophy · Philosophy, Sociology, Political Theory · Political Theory and Influence

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