Table Of Content‘Much of the theoretical debate on the design of democratic institutions is domi-
nated by the ideas and principles of deliberative democrats. Marie Paxton argues
cogently why agonistic democrats need to overcome their reluctance to engage
constructively with questions of institutional design. Through careful considera-
tion of contemporary developments in democratic theory and practice, Paxton
opens up a significant new perspective on how agonistic principles such as con-
testation can reorientate our thinking.’
Graham Smith, Professor of Politics, Centre for the
Study of Democracy, University of Westminster
‘Marie Paxton’s book aims to move us from invocations of an agonistic ethos to
the design of agonistic institutions. Developing an analytic account of perfection-
ist, adversarial, and inclusive strands of agonistic political theory, she draws on
New Institutionalist approaches in political science, the use of experimental
methods, and studies of democratic innovations to initiate an institutional design
agenda for agonistic democracy. This work marks a necessary and welcome step
forward for the agonistic theory of democracy.’
David Owen, University of Southampton
‘As politics becomes increasingly polarised, Marie Paxton explains why agonis-
tic principles – of critique, engagement and inclusion – have never been more
important. Combining sophisticated theoretical analysis with experimental
research, the book puts forward recommendations for how agonistic principles
can be put into practice in national and local institutions, schools, media and
popular culture. Marie Paxton has pushed the boundaries of agonistic thinking by
taking on the practical challenges and opportunities presented by agonism. This
is a timely and highly original volume, with international reach.’
Professor Vivien Lowndes, School of Government, University of Birmingham
‘Marie Paxton delivers an incisive critical survey of agonistic democracy, as well
as breaking new ground with her thoughtful response to the “institutional deficit”
characteristic of agonistic theory. Paxton delineates the balance between innova-
tion and institutional ordering, understood as constitutive of democratic politics,
and through her discussion we come to understand the proximity between agonis-
tic theory and the “new institutionalism”. Highlights include the account of a
“contestation day”, presented as an alternative to the “deliberation day”, as well as
the novel use of experimental design to add empirical weight to the main theoret-
ical claims of the book. Altogether, this work represents an important and imagi-
native intervention in this growing field of contemporary democratic theory.’
Mark Wenman, Senior Lecturer in Political Theory, University of Birmingham
Agonistic Democracy
Agonistic Democracy explores how theoretical concepts from agonistic democracy
can inform institutional design in order to mediate conflict in multicultural, plural-
ist societies.
Drawing on the work of Foucault, Nietzsche, Schmitt and Arendt, Marie
Paxton outlines the importance of their themes of public contestation, contin-
gency and necessary interdependency for contemporary agonistic thinkers.
Paxton then delineates three distinct approaches to agonistic democracy: David
Owen’s perfectionist agonism, Mouffe’s adversarial agonism and William
Connolly and James Tully’s inclusive agonism. She demonstrates how each is
fundamental to enabling citizens to cultivate better virtues for themselves and
society (Owen), motivating democratic engagement (Mouffe) and enhancing
relations of respect and understanding between conflicting citizens (Connolly
and Tully). Situated within the context of a deeply polarised post-Trump
America and post-Brexit Britain, Paxton reveals the need to rethink our
approach to conflict mediation through democratic institutions. Pulling together
insights from experimental research with deliberative democratic innovations,
Paxton explores how agonistic theory might be institutionalised further.
By discussing ways in which agonistic institutions might be developed to
render democracy more virtuous, more engaging, and more inclusive, this book
provides a unique resource for students of contemporary political theory.
Marie Paxton Staniforth is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at West-
minster College, Salt Lake City.
Routledge Advances in Democratic Theory
Edited by Paulina Tambakaki (University of Westminster), Lasse Thomassen
(Queen Mary, University of London) and David Chandler (University of West-
minster) Advisory Board: Amy Allen (Penn State University), Benjamin Barber
(City University of New York), Rajeev Bhargava (Centre for the Study of
Developing Societies), Fred Dallmayr (University of Notre Dame), John Keane
(University of Sydney), James R. Martel (San Francisco State University),
Chantal Mouffe (University of Westminster), Davide Panagia (UCLA), Bhikhu
Parekh (House of Lords) and Nadia Urbinati (Columbia University).
Democracy is being rethought almost everywhere today: with the widespread
questioning of the rationalist assumptions of classical liberalism, and the
implications this has for representational competition; with the Arab Spring,
destabilizing many assumptions about the geographic spread of democracy; with
the deficits of democracy apparent in the Euro-zone crisis, especially as it affects
Greece and Italy; with democracy increasingly understood as a process of social
empowerment and equalization, blurring the lines of division between formal
and informal spheres; and with growing demands for democracy to be reformu-
lated to include the needs of those currently marginalized or even to include the
representation of non-human forms of life with whom we share our planet.
Routledge Advances in Democratic Theory publishes state of the art theoret-
ical reflection on the problems and prospects of democratic theory when many
of the traditional categories and concepts are being reworked and rethought in
our globalized and complex times.
The series is published in cooperation with the Centre for the Study of Demo-
cracy, University of Westminster, London, UK.
8 Council Democracy
Towards a Democratic Socialist Politics
Edited by James Muldoon
9 Emotions, Protest, Democracy
Collective Identities in Contemporary Spain
Emmy Eklundh
10 Populism and Passions
Democratic Legitimacy after Austerity
Edited by Paolo Cossarini and Fernando Vallespín
11 Agonistic Democracy
Rethinking Political Institutions in Pluralist Times
Marie Paxton
Agonistic Democracy
Rethinking Political Institutions in
Pluralist Times
Marie Paxton
First published 2020
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2020 Taylor & Francis
The right of Marie Paxton to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this title has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-138-35404-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-42506-6 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
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For Granda Bob
Contents
Acknowledgements x
Introduction: Why Agonistic Democracy? 1
PART I
Theory 27
1 The Theoretical Roots of Agonistic Democracy 29
2 Three Approaches to Agonistic Democracy 55
3 Agonistic Democracy and Institutions 78
PART II
Institutions 97
4 Experimenting with Agonistic Democracy 99
5 Insights from Agonistic Experimentation 114
6 Agonistic Democracy and Democratic Innovations 137
7 Proposals for Agonistic Institutions 165
Index 182
