Questioning the Political: Claude Lefort and the Symbolism of Democracy

This essay starts from the premise that the golden age of totalitarianism, in its fascist phase as well as in its Communist version, obliges us to question the political, in this case democracy. In the work of the French philosopher Claude Lefort, democracy has a meaning that cannot be reduced to wh...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Andamios (Mexico City, Mexico) Mexico), 2006-06, Vol.2 (4), p.79-117
Main Author: Ortiz Leroux, Sergio
Format: Article
Language:Spanish
Subjects:
Communism
Democracy
Fascism
Political Systems
Symbolism
Totalitarianism
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Summary:This essay starts from the premise that the golden age of totalitarianism, in its fascist phase as well as in its Communist version, obliges us to question the political, in this case democracy. In the work of the French philosopher Claude Lefort, democracy has a meaning that cannot be reduced to whatever form of government nor to a decision-making mechanism. From his point of view, democracy has as one of its purposes the creation of institutions, but this mission does not end once the institutions are created. To recreate this "instituting" spirit, we will look at Lefort's theory of the democratic society, his idea of power as symbolically empty space, & his conception of human rights as political rights. References.
ISSN:1870-0063