 previous article in this issue | next article in this issue  |
Preview first page |
Document Details : Title: Politics and Passions Subtitle: The Stakes of Democracy Author(s): MOUFFE, Chantal Journal: Ethical Perspectives Volume: 7 Issue: 2-3 Date: September 2000 Pages: 146-150 DOI: 10.2143/EP.7.2.503800 Abstract : The development of the new means of communication and the overwhelming presence of the media in all realms of life represent a challenge for democratic politics. In this presentation I want to argue that such a challenge can only be grasped and met by discarding the rationalist perspective dominant in liberal democratic political thought. Indeed, such a perspective impedes us from acknowledging the nature of the political struggle and the centrality of symbols in the construction of political identities. As the recent growth of rightwing populist movements testifies, new political identities are currently being created and there is no doubt that the media are playing an important role in their diffusion. It would be a serious mistake however to present the media as the main culprit, and to see such movements as a consequence of `media politics'. The success of those movements would not be possible without a political rhetoric that managed to mobilize a wide range of signifiers. Had it not been able to articulate those signifiers into a chain of equivalence against the existing order, right-wing populism could not have made such important inroads in several European countries. |
|
