Democracy Disfigured

Urbinati, Nadia

doi:10.4159/harvard.9780674726383

Cited by 518 publications

(66 citation statements)

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“…One model values democracy as a system that attains truth (an elitist model because it values “experts” and those with advanced knowledge). A populist model, by contrast, seems to values citizens and their participation but in reality elevates a leader above a unified mass who “end up playing more the role of a reactive audience” (Urbinati, , p. 152). The third model, the most dangerous but unfortunately the most accurate description of democracy in our technological and media‐driven age, Urbinati notes, is a plebiscitary conception of democracy.…”

Section: Elitist Populist and Acclamatory Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Urbinati examines Jeffery Green's The Eyes of the People as a recent iteration of plebiscitarianism. Although Urbinati recognizes the trend towards a passive populace, Green's book is distrurbing because he takes audience democracy to be a fait accompli (Urbinati, , p. 216). Green describes a “well‐functioning and critical ocular brand of politics” with evidence from Coriolanu s (Green, , p. 133).…”

Section: Elitist Populist and Acclamatory Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Green claims that Coriolanus shows “the empowerment of the People in its capacity as spectator” (Green, , p. 131). Against Green's claims, Urbinati notes that the Roman example is more properly conceived of as “a model of popular presence” rather than a model of democracy (Urbinati, , pp. 218–224).…”

Section: Elitist Populist and Acclamatory Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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“Sometimes I mean things so much I have to act”: Theatrical acting and democracy

Goktepe

2018

Constellations

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Consider political campaigning today. Many, including those inside the arena, have noted its overt theatricality and spectacular nature. "It's like going to the circus: You have acrobats and clowns and dancing bears" (Cruz quoted in Mascaro, 2016). This confirms the view of many contemporary democratic theorists that the political arena has become a place for spectacle and entertainment as opposed to critical public debate (see, for example, Bottici, 2014;Green, 2010; Urbinati, 2014, especially chapter 4). This situation has only worsened since 1962, when Habermas described the decline of the vibrant public sphere of the 1700s. According to Habermas, the expansion of capitalism eroded public-private distinctions and once-active voters became passive consumers dedicated to personal consumption and private interests rather than to a dynamic democratic polity. On the one side of the dichotomy is the theatrical representation of public officials; on the other, rational democratic debate (Habermas, 1989). Habermas speaks with disdain of "the staged and manipulative effectiveness of a publicity aimed at rendering the broad population … infectiously ready for acclamation" (Habermas, 1989, p. 211, The public only exists-is passively "brought in"-to applaud mindlessly this staged publicity. Habermas here registers his anti-theatricalism. The theater and its tricks remain beyond the pale of rational public discourse. Later, he will amend his views. In Between Facts and Norms, in 1992, he argues that new social movements and subcultures can dramatize relevant social problems and certain experiences-such as the experiences of oppressed or marginalized groups-can find expression in artistic forms of discourse that can have resonance in the more centralized, formal public sphere. He even gives as an example of arranged publics: "theater performances" right alongside "rock concerts," syntactically giving them equal weight (Habermas, 1996, p. 374).Theater, however, deserves consideration as separate from other artistic discourses for its educational value in a democratic society, not for the influence theater has on audiences but rather on actors themselves. Insofar as theater is just another forum for the use of expressive language that can capture personal sufferings and generate new awareness of political issues to place on the agenda, it is not very different from literature (but see Ajello, 2014). If it is true that successful political candidates today are "experts in communication," that is, "persons who have a better command of the techniques of media communication than others," then one solution is to broaden these techniques-to promote and embrace theatricality in the public sphere for all (Manin, 1997, p. 220). If[c]ontemporary representative democracy faces … a decline of electoral and political participation to which corresponds the growth of the aesthetic and theatrical function of the public, a voyeuristic machine that serves to gratify people's longing for political spectacle (Urbinati, 2014, p. 226

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Section: Elitist Populist and Acclamatory Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Elitist Populist and Acclamatory Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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“Sometimes I mean things so much I have to act”: Theatrical acting and democracy

Goktepe

2018

Constellations

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“…The synonymy of the two terms is misplaced in that case. Urbinati (2014) proposes a distinction between all leaderless movements -such as the Occupy movements in the United States, the Indignados in Spain or the Kínima Aganaktisménon-Politón in Greecewhich are considered popular manifestation of the dissatisfaction toward some aspect of the contemporary capitalist world, and the leader-led movements which are populist because of the presence of a leader. However, the repertories of contention of the former crucial populist features such as the political mobilization and the criticism about the élite (see sections 2 and 5).…”

Section: Populism As a Leader-led Movementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Re-conceptualizing populism: Bringing a multifaceted concept within stricter borders

Vittori

2017

Rev. Esp. Cienc. Polít.

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The word populism has been associated to (very) different meanings in the last years. The "populist" label is still used to describe parties, leaders, movements, attitudes and political regimes, too. Moreover, the adjective "populist" is used in a normative fashion in the public debate to denigrate those movements or parties which contrast the mainstream views. The aim of this paper is twofold: on the one hand, I conduct a non-normative analysis to avoid a biased vision of the concept. On the other hand, I advocate the understanding of populism as a thin-centered ideology, according to which it is based on two necessary features, namely, (a) an anti-elite(s) mindset and (b) the criticism of representative politics.Keywords: populism, comparative politics, concept analysis, thin-centered ideology. ResumenEl término populismo ha sido asociado a significados muy diferentes en los últimos años. La etiqueta de populista se sigue utilizando para describir partidos, líderes, movimientos, actitudes y regímenes políticos. Además, el adjetivo populista se utiliza también con una inclinación normativa en el debate público para denigrar a esos movimientos o partidos que contrastan con las ideologías dominantes. Este artículo tienes dos objetivos principales: por un lado, desarrollo un análisis conceptual no normativo para evitar una visión sesgada del concepto. Por otra parte, abogo por una consideración del populismo como una ideología débil, según la cual se basa en dos características necesarias, a saber, (a) el anti-elitismo y (b) la crítica de la política representativa.

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“…It is no wonder, then, that so long as democracy is understood as “rule by the people,” the question endlessly returns: Is populism the manifestation of popular rule, or is it a pathology (Taggart, ), perversion (Mèny & Surel, ), or disfiguration (Urbinati, ) of democracy that subverts the normative and procedural preconditions for collective autonomy? This is why populism notoriously scrambles the categories of political thought, appearing as both a distinct symptom and a genetic condition, a fundamental feature, and a persistent contravention of democracy, and especially of its overt reliance on intertwined forms of institutional, symbolic, and media representation.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Prohibiting the people: Populism, procedure and the rhetoric of democratic desire

Kaplan

2018

Constellations

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Democracy Disfigured

Cited by 518 publications

References 0 publications

“Sometimes I mean things so much I have to act”: Theatrical acting and democracy

“Sometimes I mean things so much I have to act”: Theatrical acting and democracy

Re-conceptualizing populism: Bringing a multifaceted concept within stricter borders

Prohibiting the people: Populism, procedure and the rhetoric of democratic desire

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