David Matijasevich Publishes New Book

Radical Democracy and Its Limits, recently published by Palgrave Macmillan, is the first book from David Matijasevich, an instructor in the Department of Political Science at Simon Fraser University. In recent years, radical democratic theory—championed by the likes of Chantal Mouffe, William Connolly, Bonnie Honig and Jacques Rancière—has received a great deal of attention, both within the academy and among political activists. This has come as a result of its insistence on extra-institutional forms of political engagement (e.g. social movements, protest politics) as the necessary antidote to the increasingly unresponsive, elite-driven nature of existing political institutions. If conducted agonistically—as spirited contests rather than violent confrontations—such instances of popular mobilization are understood as deepening democracy.

One problem for radical democratic theory, however, is the fact that many recent examples of such agonistic extra-institutional challenges (e.g. Occupy, Arab Spring, Hong Kong) ended up descending into antagonism. As a result, many of their original democratic characteristics came to be obliterated.

What do such developments mean for the viability of the radical democratic project? The purpose of this book is to answer this question. By comparing four historical cases of popular uprising that fluctuated between agonistic and antagonistic moments, Radical Democracy and Its Limits establishes the circumstances under which such agonistic engagements with power can both take off and persist. In doing so, the book reveals several important limitations to the radical democratic framework—ones that ought to be taken seriously by both political theorists and activists.