American Dionysia

Violence, Tragedy, and Democratic Politics

AvSteven Johnston

Inbunden, Engelska, 2015

995 kr

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334 kr

Beskrivning

Violence and tragedy riddle democracy - not due to fatal shortcomings or unnecessary failures, but because of its very design and success. To articulate this troubling claim, Steven Johnston explores the cruelty of democratic founding, the brutal use democracies make of citizens and animals during wartime, the ambiguous consequences of legislative action expressive of majority rule, and militant practices of citizenship required to deal with democracy's enemies. Democracy must take responsibility for its success: to rule in denial of violence merely replicates it. Johnston thus calls for the development of a tragic democratic politics and proposes institutional and civic responses to democracy's reign, including the reinvention of tragic festivals and holidays, a new breed of public memorials, and mandatory congressional reparations sessions. Theorizing the violent puzzle of democracy, Johnston addresses classic and contemporary political theory, films, little known monuments, the subversive music of Bruce Springsteen, and the potential of democratic violence by the people themselves.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2015-05-12
Mått:157 x 235 x 20 mm
Vikt:530 g
Format:Inbunden
Språk:Engelska
Antal sidor:303
Förlag:Cambridge University Press
ISBN:9781107100602

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Steven Johnston is the Neal A. Maxwell Chair in Political Theory, Public Policy, and Public Service in the Department of Political Science at the University of Utah. He is the author of The Truth about Patriotism (2007) and Encountering Tragedy: Rousseau and the Project of Democratic Order (1999). He has published articles in Theory and Event, Contemporary Political Theory, Strategies, Political Research Quarterly, and Polity. In 2013 he founded the Neal A. Maxwell Lecture Series in Political Theory and Contemporary Politics. He is a regular contributor to the academic theory and politics blog, The Contemporary Condition.

Recensioner i media

'What if violence is not just essential to democracy's founding but also constitutive of its practice? How, then, might violence be embraced - rather than disavowed - to sustain and reclaim the democratic? In a remarkable work of stunning insights and surprising juxtapositions, Steven Johnston pursues these questions with tenacity, wit, and eloquence. American Dionysia further establishes Johnston as one of the most innovative and original voices in contemporary political theory. This is an extraordinary book.' Simon Stow, College of William and Mary, Virginia

Innehållsförteckning

Introduction: antinomies of democracy; 1. American dionysia; 2. Democracy at war with itself: citizens; 3. Democracy at war with itself: animals; 4. Forcing democracy to be free: Rousseau to Springsteen; 5. Two cheers for democratic violence; 6. New tragic democratic traditions; 7. Conclusion: democracy's tragic affirmations.