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  • 3 - Democracy in a Provisional Key

  • from Part I - Democratic Ethos
  • Edited by James Tully, University of Victoria, British Columbia, Keith Cherry, University of Alberta, Fonna Forman, University of California, San Diego, Jeanne Morefield, University of Oxford, Joshua Nichols, McGill University, Montréal, Pablo Ouziel, University of Southampton, David Owen, University of Southampton, Oliver Schmidtke, University of Victoria, British Columbia
  • Book:
    Democratic Multiplicity
    Published online:
    21 July 2022
    Print publication:
    04 August 2022, pp 52-62
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  • Summary

    Drawing on the work of Jacques Derrida, this chapter argues that we should think about democracy in a provisional key. Democracy is provisional because it puts itself into question. It does so when we take the question “what is democracy?” to be part of democracy, which means that we must ask “what is the demos?” and “what is rule?” We end up with a conception of democracy whereby the people is at once prior to and a result of the rule of the people, and so we never arrive at a final answer to the questions “who is the demos?” and “what is rule?” Treating democracy as provisional does not necessarily solve major challenges such as the environmental crisis and inequality, but it allows us to approach these challenges from a new and more fruitful angle. I discuss this with particular attention to current debates about the climate crisis.