1. Politics and the Political
Jakob Svensson Cyberculture and Politics 2015

2. Outline of the lecture
Habermas and the Political Defining the Political The Political, Equality and Conflict Mouffe and the Political The Political subject – the Citizen d Political Participation

3. Habermas and the Political
Grounded in an idea of the Public Sphere
Developed in his Habilitation
The structural transformation of the Public Sphere
A space between the state and the private where public
opinions are formed through discursive practices
Important for theorizing media and democracy
Important for our conception of the political
(as dealing with things of the state)
Normative ideal

4. Habermas and the Political
A space for citizenship/ participation
Characterized by a diversity of opinions
Devoid of restrictions imposed by capital
Open for everyone
Equal and considerate participation
Ideal speech situation
Communicative rationality for the best of all (≠ competition between
private interests)
Should persist communication in the life world (≠ system)
Life world subjectivism
Strive for Enlightenment

5. Habermas and the Political
Developed in the cafés (coffee houses)
of the s (mercantilism &
news press  new bourgeois public)
Colonized by commercial media in the 20th
century (≠ equal or free of power (system))
Greece (Oikos vs. Polis) ≠ Feudal societies s
(ceremonial and public showing off)
re-feudalization – 20th century (private and public blended together – not the least with mass media)
Reasoning citizens are replaced by consumers (critical theory)

6. To Discuss in Class
Does the public sphere return with the Internet?

7. Habermas and the Political
Rise of deliberative democracy
(participatory democracy)
Reason towards the public best
Consensus is supposed to be formed
≠ Liberal view of politics as competition
between different interests/ opinions
In deliberative democracy opinions are formed in deliberations (not strategic)
Instrumental vs. Communicative rationality (cf. Expressive rationality)
Political is about the process, to reach agreement, to discuss rationally (communicative rationality)

8. Defining the Political
Acts with the intention of organizing and govern a community/ network (Dewey; van Dijk)
It is normative since it deals with how society should be structured (Nord)
A discursive construction, continuously being defined by citizens practices (Cruikshank)

9. Defining the Political
Bios politicos – a sphere of action through speech and words for the (re)organization of the polis (Arendt)
Police/ politics is concerned with men's co-existence (Foucault)

10. the Political, Equality and Conflict
The organization of society is based on the value of equality (Rancière)
Polis is different from the household in that it knew only equals
How to distribute the common goods of a community equally? Different groups may have different opinions – leads to conflict
The political is about conflict over resources (Dewey)

11. the Political, Equality and Conflict
Difference in equality of opportunities and real equality (Marshall)
Individual is both the foundation of unequal capitalist societies and citizenship rights
Equality as a civic bond (justice)
This opens up the political as a space of power and conflicts (Mouffe)

12. Mouffe and the Political
Processes of identification always entail constructing frontiers that separate us from them (Laclau & Mouffe, 1985).
Conflict is thus inherent in constructions of an Other and important for understanding the political in radical democracy.
Political struggles have to do with conflicts
over interests and resources in the
organisation of society. Following Mouffe
(2005), we should not be misled to believe that
consensus over this ever could be achieved.
The radical in radical democracy refers to such
expressions of difference and includes conflict ‘
and dissent as important elements in a
democracy

13. Mouffe and the Political
Identifying an Other is thus related to constructing a coherent us.
Vagueness is a constant dimension of political action, a precondition for constructing political meanings that a range of different people can gather around (Laclau, 2005, p. 18).
Vagueness is thus of vital importance
to allow for a variety of individuals to
connect to an activist demand
Digital media offer spaces in which different groups can express their identity to gain publicity as well as to which they can retreat and have the chance to prepare and to negotiate their identity (Dahlberg 2007) – A radical public sphere?

14. Mouffe and the Political
Radical democracy is partly a normative perspective, it also provides a yardstick for evaluating how positions are expressed and how the outside Other is constructed
Politics is about bringing differences to the fore, but this entails respecting the Other as an adversary and not as an enemy to be eliminated.
By outlining the concept of agonism,
in contrast to antagonism, Mouffe (2005)
suggests a conception of the Other as an
adversary to be acknowledged, which
is important for displaying the
heterogeneity of conflictual forces
constituting the political.

15. Recap May digital platforms be considered as political?
Depends on your normative framework
Are digital environments like public spheres
characterized by communicative rationality
leading to consensus? – Habermas
Or are they radical arenas characterized by agonistic
participation that brings processes of identifications
to the fore in which differences are highlighted?
– Mouffe

16. The Political subject – the Citizen
Citizenship = rights and duties
Membership in an (imagined) political community/ network
This membership entails equal participation with fellow members (citizens) in the making of the collective decisions that regulate social life of the community

17. The Political subject – the Citizen
Describes practices and identities connected to peoples aspirations of democracy and equality
A legal status - received from the political community
Agency - achieved in practices in a political community

18. To Think About
Is it outdated to conceive of citizenship as membership (given globalization and network media)?

19. To Think About Should citizenship (rights) be universal?
Should citizenship be associated to a political community or should it apply to all human beings?
Should citizenship be associated with humanity or constitution?

20. The Political subject – the Citizen
Importance of power/ authority
Important to direct rights claim as well as accepting duties and regulations put on you as a citizen
Ruling and being ruled (Aristotle)

21. The Political subject – the Citizen
Citizenship = participation in relation to an authority (political community)
Participation constructs the authority of the community as the participant negotiates him/herself as a citizen in relation to this authority.
Authority = power/ knowledge. Power implies and is conditioned by a possession of knowledge (Foucault)

22. Political Participation
By engaging /participating / deliberating politically we act in relation to an authority, a power/knowledge-dimension that socializes us into certain practices
Participation ≠ engagement ≠ deliberation?
Participation as communication? (digital networks)

23. Political Participation
This socializing is done through norms and values
Expectation of behavior
Make members behave
The more people there are the more likely to behave -
Personal control system
(Norbert Elias)

24. To Discuss
Are there norms / values /expectations of participation/ how to participate?

25. Political Participation
Norms and values are constantly negotiated
What participants believe, hope for and aim at is an outcome of association and interaction with others (Dewey)
We are thus talking about meaning-making practices (culture)
Citizenship as Agency (≠ thumbprint) , as participation

26. Political Participation
Citizenship as Agency (≠ thumbprint) , as participation
Polis is not the city state in its location but the activity of people speaking and acting together (Arendt)
A capacity to participate and duty to use this capacity on which other rights as well as democracy depends (both right and duty)

27. Thank you for listening!

28. Was there any thing you didn’t understand?

29. Was there any thing you you would like to discuss further?
Upload short answers to this on Studentportalen 90 minutes before class THE LATEST