Community and radical democracy

Abstract

Radical democracy encompasses a variety of thinkers who are concerned with theories of political renewal and the invigoration of the public sphere. Commentators such as Chantal Mouffe and William Connolly have sought to demonstrate the political and democratic implications of diversity and value pluralism. The conceptual tool that is frequently employed in these discourses of difference is community. Unlike mainstream theorizations of community that have emerged within contemporary third way thinking, radical democracy does not seek to manufacture consensus out of difference. Instead it argues that social diversity gives rise to incommensurable value pluralism, which in turn may generate conflict and dissent. Radical democracy implies an expansion of political debate as a means of grappling with a multiplicity of communities within society. Thus, whilst sharing some of the conceptual tools of the Third Way in contemporary social democracy, radical pluralism points to an opening out, rather than a closure, of political debate.