Esfera publiko agonistikoaren alde

Abstract

My aim in this presentation is to offer some reflexions concerning the kind of public sphere that a vibrant democratic society requires. I want to scrutinize the dominant discourse which announces the ‘end of the adversarial model of politics’ and the need to go beyond left and right towards a consensual politics of the centre. The thesis that I want to put forward is that, contrary to what its defensors argue, this type of discourse has very negative consequences for democratic politics. Indeed it has contributed to the weakening of the ‘democratic political public sphere’and it has led to the increasing dominance of juridical and moral discourse, dominance which I take to be inimical to democracy. I submit that the increasing moralization and juridification of politics, far from being seen as a progress, a further step in the development of democracy should be envisaged as a threat for its future.