Political difference

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

With the concept of political difference , political theory introduces the distinction between politics and the political. Politics encompasses a narrow concept of politics and relates to politics as a social functional system (e.g. state, government, parties).

This narrow term deals with the question of how to organize politics and how this organization can be justified.

In contrast, the broad term in political theory refers to questions about the nature of the political and deals with the political dimension of the social.

With the introduction of the concept of political difference, the concept of the political is to be sharpened.

Concept history

The political is originally derived from the Greek term polis and, according to Plato and Aristotle, means the political community. Political action here refers to the concept of the polis as a concrete space of the political; a conceptual distinction between politics and the political has not yet been made. Political difference was only introduced into political theory and philosophy at the end of the 20th century. Since then, the term has been taken up again and again.

The most detailed discussion of the distinction between the political (le politique) and politics (la politique) took place in France a. a. held by the work of Paul Ricœur , Jean-Luc Nancy , Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe , Claude Lefort , Alain Badiou and Jacques Rancière . In the German-speaking world, Carl Schmitt was the first to distinguish between politics and politics. With Carl Schmitt, the political does not form a separate area or sphere of its own. With Schmitt, the political can be found everywhere where a friend-foe constellation is formed. The political thus always inscribes itself in other areas of society and politicizes them. The philosopher Ernst Vollrath also attributes the invention of political difference to Hannah Arendt .

According to Oliver Marchart , two lines of tradition can be distinguished when dealing with the concept of the political as opposed to politics : the associative and the dissociative line. When differentiating between the traditional lines, the design refers to Hannah Arendt and Carl Schmitt. According to Marchart, the former formulates an associative theory of the political, which defines the political as a free, communicative space of interaction. Carl Schmitt, on the other hand, emphasizes the dissociative aspect, which grasps the political as a space of power and conflict.

reception

Associative tradition line

According to Oliver Marchart's definition of the political in the context of the associative line of tradition, the political must first be filtered out of the general concept of politics. For this, however, a pure concept of the political is necessary (this was coined by Hannah Arendt), which emphasizes the autonomy of the political. Above all, this autonomy means that the political takes certain social aspects such as B. bureaucratic or economic forms of rationality must not be subordinated. The central point is to work out the autonomy of the political in relation to other areas of the social in order to expose the authentic character of the political. In the associative tradition line, with Arendt, this authentic character can be found in communicative moments of “acting in concert” or “acting together”.

Against this background, the associative aspect of the political is emphasized in the Arendtian line of tradition. Joint action in public space is in the foreground. Sheldon Wolin , for example, bases his work on such an understanding of the political: “I will understand the political as an expression of the idea that a free society made up of diversity can still enjoy moments of community as soon as collective power is established through public deliberations to promote or protect the welfare of the collective. "

Dissociative tradition line

In the dissociative line of tradition, which refers to the work of Carl Schmitt on the concept of the political, the antagonism is emphasized. So z. B. Chantal Mouffe applied the political to the concept of agonism : While Carl Schmitt used the concept of antagonism to describe a friend-foe distinction, Chantal Mouffe developed the Schmittian term further into the concept of agonism: instead of a friend-foe relationship, there is a relationship formulated by the principle of opposition: opponents recognize the legitimacy of the opponents and belong to the same political community. This agonism is particularly evident in the struggle for irreconcilable hegemonic projects. The goal here is not to destroy the opponents as with Carl Schmitt, but to implement one's own projects.

This hegemony plays an important role for Mouffe in defining the political. Since the political consists of agonisms, the hegemonic character of social order must be recognized. All projects of different parties are to be recognized as hegemonic, which means that the social order, for example, is by no means to be seen as everlasting. Everything is limited to a certain period of time, until other projects prevail and change the order.

outlook

While an empirical-analytical approach has prevailed in political science , which relates to the concept of politics, the examination of the concept of political difference and thus the concept of the political forms an exclusively theoretical-philosophical approach: “As difference the political difference of empirical science is wrested and becomes a matter of a political theory that takes a self-confident philosophical observation point of view. "

literature

  • Oliver Marchart : The political difference . Suhrkamp, ​​Berlin 2010.
  • Thomas Bedorf and Kurt Röttgers (eds.): The political and the political . Suhrkamp, ​​Berlin 2010. ISBN 978-3518295571
  • Ulrich Bröckling and Robert Feustel (eds.): Thinking about politics. Contemporary positions . transcript Verlag, Bielefeld, 2010

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thomas Bedorf and Kurt Röttgers (eds.): The political and the political. Suhrkamp, ​​Berlin 2010.
  2. ↑ Vollrath, Ernst: Politisch, das Politische . In: Ritter, Joachim (Ed.): Historical Dictionary of Philosophy, 1989, Wiss. Buchges., Vol. 7, pages 1071-1075
  3. ↑ z. B. in Ulrich Bröckling and Robert Feustel (eds.): Thinking about politics. Contemporary positions . transcript Verlag, Bielefeld 2010
  4. ↑ Oliver Marchart : The political difference . Suhrkamp, ​​Berlin 2010, p. 13f.
  5. ↑ Carl Schmitt: The concept of the political . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, 1963 (org. 1932).
  6. ^ Ernst Vollrath: Hannah Arendt: A German-American Jewees Views the United States and Looks Back to Germany . In: Peter Graf u. a. (Eds.): Hannah Arendt and Lev Strauss. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1995, p. 48.
  7. ↑ Oliver Marchart: The political difference , Suhrkamp, ​​Berlin 2010, p. 14 f. and 35 f.
  8. ↑ Oliver Marchart: The political difference. Suhrkamp, ​​Berlin 2010, p. 36 f.
  9. ↑ Sheldon Wolin : Fufitive Democracy . In: Seyla benhabib (Ed.): Democracy and Difference. Contesting the Boundaries of the Political. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1996, p. 32.
  10. ↑ Carl Schmitt: The concept of the political . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1963 (Orf. 1932).
  11. ^ Mouffe, Chantal: About the Political. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 2007.
  12. ↑ Oliver Marchart: The political difference . Suhrkamp, ​​Berlin 2010, p. 18.

Web links