Political authority as genuineness how to transgress new public spheres

Abstract

The article argues that the basis for identification for the politicians vis--vis the citizenry has changed and that this has had consequences for the Habermasian perception of public deliberation and legitimacy. We reconsider the concepts of identification and legitimacy and argue that they can be conceptualized by a special rhetorical figure, so-called formulations of genuineness. They help to legitimize proposals to heterogeneous audiences by means of ad hoc incorporation of different value-systems and frames of reference. We illustrate our thesis with quotations from nomination letters written by the current chairmen of the Danish Social Democratic Party and Socialist People's Party. We further elaborate on a concept of celebrity public sphere and we show how it is constituted by the media. We argue that such spheres empower lay people to enter the sphere for political action with immediate effects for society so-called good governance. By means of engaging lay-people in an ad hoc fashion we argue that participatory and deliberative ideals of democracy are met in a new fashion.