Gyatri Spivak

"...an acceptance of radical vulnerability..." - Gyatri Spivak

Jacques Ranciere

Rancière, Jacques: Rancière believes democracy is neither a governmental or societal structure. Rather, it is the underlying principle which makes both possible.  For Rancière, democracy is the equality at the heart of inequality. Democracy, equality, is the underlying condition of politics, and not a goal or structure to be attained.

Wendy Brown

Brown, Wendy: The word democracy means only that “the people” rule themselves, that the whole rather than a part or an Other is politically sovereign. However, as Brown points out, this definition does not necessarily entail “representation, constitutions, deliberation, participation, free markets, rights, universality or even equality.”

Giorgio Agamben

Agamben, Giorgio: Agamben suggests the word democracy has at least two, distinct meanings that often get mistakenly conflated. First, democracy refers to the political agreements (such as a constitution, public law, social norms) through which the people organize and make collective decisions. Agamben calls this a “political-juridical” rationality—meaning this aspect of democracy refers to the creation of laws, and the constant revision of law, by the people of any given collective.

The Costs of Killing Democracy

 After Manuel Zelaya was elected President of Honduras and took office early in 2006, he began supporting some reformist policies such as raising the minimum wage, reversing deceptive land ownership practices, and aligning with the international group of countries known as ALBA.  Shortly after pursuing these policies he was overthrown by the Honduran political class through a 2009 military coup d’etat.  Shortly after the coup, the European Union, the United Nations, and the Organization of American States opposed the new leadership, but within months the United States changed its position to support the military leadership. The United States also supported the elections in the fall of 2010 to replace the overthrown civilian leadership when other countries globally refused to recognize the new government.  And the U.S. renewed full military aid by February 2010, even though in the case of other coups in Nicaragua, Mauritania, and Madagascar the U.S. terminated aid agreements.