Republicanism and Agonistic Democratic Theory

Call for Papers

Pléyade. Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

ISSN 0718-655x / e-ISSN 0719-3696

Nº 20 July-December, 2017

Special Edition

“Republicanism and Agonistic Democratic Theory”

In recent decades, various theories have challenged what appears to be a hegemonic dominance of liberalism in at least three directions: economic, legal and the political dimension of the community. Among these, two stand out for the extent of their criticism. One of them is republicanism: From the sixties onwards it went through a significant revival due to the work of figures like Quentin Skinner, JGA Pocock, and Philipp Pettit. Republican criticism of liberalism seemed to come into being based on the very strength of liberalism, a theory of liberty. From here it went on to recover an understanding of the citizen, the law, and power which questions basic principles of liberal theory as the “right”, “the State” and the possibility of ‘vero vivere libero e civile’ in a kind of depoliticized society.

Meanwhile, in parallel to the above, from agonal democratic theory (Tully, Mouffe, Honig, etc.) a critique of liberalism regarding in how far it immunized society from politics was developed. The understanding of the state liberal as an intrinsic denial of the possibility of conflict inherent in the political struggle. Thus, the “consensus” produced under the abstraction of the rule of law replaces the essential agonal character of democracy. If so, this raises the question as to how far expressions like “liberal democracy” and “representative-democracy” are not oxymorons constitutionally speaking.

In this volume, from a historical perspective and one of philosophy of law and political theory, the following topics will be addressed:

Genealogy of the foundational texts of republican theory (Greek, Roman, Italian, and Atlantic, respectively)
Genealogy of the foundational texts of the agonistic democratic theory (continental andAnglo-Saxon).
Critical responses to republicanism and agonal democratic theory.
Theory of power and republicanism
Theory of power and agonal democracy
The anthropological idea underlying both theories
The possibilities (and impossibilities) of both views for constitutional theory
Democracy, representation, and constituent power in both traditions
The limitations of both theories
Responses from liberalism to these criticisms
Gender theory in light of republicanism and agonal democracy.
Continuities and discontinuities of both traditions with a critical theory.
Cosmopolitanism, liberalism, and
Queer citizenship: a perspective from these currents.
Feminism and democracy
Natural law and liberal
Athens and Rome as examples
Literature, republicanism, and democratic theory
Civil religion and democracy
Social contract, machismo, and republicanism
Women as image (or antithesis) in democratic and republican tradition
Astell&Wollstonecraft: A critique of male-centric liberalism
Race and imperialism in the democratic and republican tradition
Possibilities (impossibilities) of republican and democratic economic theory.
Liberal justice, republican justice, democratic justice: contrasts and differences.
Iconography, images and art in republicanism and democracy.