Contemporary Democratic Socialism in a Complex Political World

Abstract

This chapter discusses the work of Noberto Bobbio, Chantal Mouffe and Axel Honneth (the ideas associated with them will run throughout succeeding chapters). These thinkers epitomise contemporary democratic socialist thinking by challenging ideas within the socialist tradition that have tended to emphasise control of the economic means of production over cultural and other aspects of power. Each of these writers takes a particular stance on democratic socialism’s relationship with liberalism and the demands made by individual rights and identity politics in the twenty-first century. The impact of technology and social media on democratic socialist thinking with be discussed as will its relationship to other important political theories (such as Hirst’s version of associationist democracy).