Repoliticising Democracy

In this thesis, I argue that the issues facing democracy today are caused primarily by an overarching sentiment of democratic disillusionment. Phrased differently, the gap between the social and the political has deepened greatly, causing a widespread sense of disillusionment with democracy. Ultimately, this has led to a vicious cycle of ever-increasing democratic disillusionment. It is my contention that this has been a necessary consequence of the uneasy alliance between liberalism and democracy. As such, I take a step back and sketch an overview of the liberal (democratic) tradition, using John Stuart Mill as a spokesperson. Consequently, using the political thought of Chantal Mouffe, I argue that liberal democracies need to be revitalised and repoliticised by installing an agonistic democracy. Lastly, to remedy shortcomings in Mouffe’s theory, I draw from the work of Pierre Rosanvallon and Marie Paxton to offer various ways in which agonism can be put into practice.