Theories of recognition, once seen as a promising approach for addressing the politics of difference and identity, have recently faced a sustained critique. This thesis participates in that critical project by confronting two recognition theorists – Charles Taylor and Nancy Fraser – with the injustices of colonialism in Canada as articulated by Indigenous scholars, particularly Dale Turner. The resultant critical multilogue highlights the shortcomings in each theory, but also points to their key strengths. These insights inform a discussion of agonistic reconciliation, a concept that transcends the limits of the recognition paradigm and offers hope for more just relations between Indigenous peoples and settlers in Canada. / Graduate

This thesis investigates two contemporary theories of radical democracy, Jürgen Habermas’s deliberative and Chantal Mouffe’s agonistic democracy. By bringing the two scholars together and constructing a debate between them, their respective strengths and weaknesses are highlighted and the similarities and differences are pointed out. Habermas and Mouffe are seldom dealt with simultaneously as they represent different theoretical traditions, critical theory and post-structuralism respectively. This thesis argues that we can learn from both of them. The aim of the thesis is to clarify and critically assess Chantal Mouffe’s and Jürgen Habermas’s versions of radical democracy, their disparate visions of democratic politics and subjectivity, in order to clear the ground for a third position that draws inspiration from both of them. The methodological inspiration comes from the deconstructive approach to interpretation, and thus the study aspires to a ‘just reading’ while being conscious of the elements of violence inherent to any instances of reading. The main bulk of the thesis is dedicated to an analysis of the two authors’ theories of democracy and subjectivity, which leads on to the third position situated beyond the two. From Habermas I take the stress on political communication and intersubjectivity, while both these concepts are extensively reformulated. The elements I reject from his position are the orientation to consensus and the strong requirements of coherence and transparency of the subject. From Mouffe I take the accent on the agonistic spirit of democracy, while setting aside the ontological status of antagonism. Her conception of split subjectivity is included, but supplemented with a more explicit theorization of the unity of the subject in the element of intersubjective meetings. The third position on radical democracy embraces the fundamental status of undecidability, which calls for an ethos of questioning.

The thesis concerns the dynamics during the 1990s of political action by many groups of people, in what came to be called the movement of movements. The activists, who held that corporations were overstepping some mark, worked on alternative arrangements for self-rule. The thesis views the movement as micropolitics, using concepts devised by Deleuze and Guattari. It sets out particulars of the rhizomic make -up of the movement. A key point is that the movement trains participants in decentred organisation, which entails the forming of subject-groups as opposed to subjugated groups. The thesis records how the movement was shaped by earlier events in political action and thinking, especially from the 1960s on. The movement had previously been read as a push for absolute democracy (Hardt and Negri). The thesis shows that reading to have been incomplete: the movement is, in part, a push for agonistic democracy. More a practice than a form of rule, agonistic democracy is found where state power is bent on not moulding peoples into any unified polity. It is found where state power fosters conflicted-self-rule, so that every citizen may engage in the polity as a decentred "I". The thesis throws light on relations between the movement and the constitutionalist state. Part of the movement, while cynical about the existing form of state rule, wears a mask of obedience to constituted authority. When one upholds the fiction of legitimate rule, one can use the fiction as a restraint on the cynics-in-power. The play creates a shadow social contract, producing detente within the polity and within the �I.� The thesis also reports on a search in mainstream cinema for some expression of the movement's dynamics. The search leads to a cycle of thrillers, set in a nonfiction frame story about a coverup of gross abuse of state power.

Thesis (M.S.)--Florida State University, 2006. / Advisor:Thomas A. Houpt, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Biological Science. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed June 7, 2006). Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 37 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

nÃo hà / A presente pesquisa foca na anÃlise das prÃticas da pixaÃÃo e do graffiti e de suas relaÃÃes na cidade de Fortaleza-CE. Esse estudo teve como delimitaÃÃo de campo o bairro Benfica e atravÃs de uma metodologia etnogrÃfica as ruas e avenidas desse bairro foram percorridas por meio de caminhadas que tiveram como foco a observaÃÃo e registro, por meio de fotografias, dos signos de pixos, graffiti e publicidade. Problematizamos de que maneira essas intervenÃÃes ocupam a cidade e de que modo elas se relacionam entre si. Os muros apresentaram relaÃÃes, em sua maioria, conflituosas a partir de uma disputa por visibilidade. A partir das imagens de campo e fala dos interlocutores foram desenvolvidas discussÃes acercas das seguintes relaÃÃes: costura, atropelo, rasura, sufoco e cobertura. As narrativas tambÃm deflagraram diferenciaÃÃes nas fronteiras entre pixaÃÃo, graffiti e arte urbana. Para alÃm da agonÃstica que permeiam esses campos, a aÃÃo de ressignificar o urbano por meios dessas linguagens foi vista a partir das contribuiÃÃes de RanciÃre e de outros autores como Foucault e Agamben como cenas de dissenso ou micropolÃticas de resistÃncia que possibilitam rearranjos de poder, desafiando as forÃas da disciplina e da normatizaÃÃo. / This research focuses on the analysis of the practices of pixaÃÃo and graffiti and their relations in the city of Fortaleza-CE. This study was field delimitation Benfica neighborhood and through an ethnographic methodology the streets and avenues of this neighborhood were covered by hikes that have focused on the observation and recording, through photographs, pixos signs, graffiti and advertising. We question how these interventions occupy the city and how they relate to each other. The walls had relations, mostly conflicting from a competition for visibility. From the field and speaks of the interlocutors was made discussions about the following relationships: sewing, trampling, erasure, suffocation and coverage. The narratives also triggered differentiation in the boundaries between pixaÃÃo, graffiti and urban art. In addition to the agonistic that permeate these fields, the action of reframe the city by these languages was seen from the contributions of RanciÃre and other authors as Foucault and Agamben as dissent scenes or resistance of micro enabling power rearrangements, challenging the forces of discipline and standardization.

Esta tese é o resultado de uma etnografia sobre a comunidade negra rural Família Magalhães (Nova Roma-GO), originária do território Kalunga. Procurei discutir, tendo em vista o reconhecimento do grupo como quilombola perante o Estado, formas específicas pelas quais ele produz relações entre parentes e não parentes. No último caso, me refiro a agentes do governo federal e estadual, presidentes da república, deputados, procuradores, advogados, prefeitos, vereadores e, também, a conhecidos, vizinhos, compadres e correligionários. Nessa trama, tocar amizade e fazer política aparecem como modos privilegiados de tecer territórios, entendidos em seu caráter relacional, sempre passíveis de serem atravessados por relações de caráter agonístico. Assim, investiguei como são geridos, entre os membros de Família Magalhães, movimentos contínuos de produção de vínculos e segmentações, trazendo à tona agenciamentos específicos do grupo em suas experiências de alteridade. / This thesis derives from an ethnography of a rural black community named Família Magalhães (Nova Roma-GO), originated in the Kalunga territory. Since that group is recognized by the Brazilian State as a maroon community, I tried to discuss specific ways in which it produces relations between relatives and non-relatives. By the latter case, I mean agents of the federal and state governments, presidents of the republic, deputies, prosecutors, lawyers, mayors, councilors and also acquaintances, neighbors, cronies and cohorts. In this plot, cultivating friends and engaging politically appear as privileged ways of weaving territories, which are understood by its relational character, always subject to being traversed by relations of agonistic character. Thus, I investigated how continuous movements of production of bonds and segmentations are managed among members of Família Magalhães, bringing up particular agencies of this group regarding their experience of otherness.

The thesis HateFree Culture: The importance of agonistic dialogue in mitigating Islamophobia is a case study of the Czech government's campaign against hate crime - HateFree Culture. The thesis deals with the current phenomenon of Islamophobia and identifies how the HateFree Culture initiative works with the topic of Islam in an attempt to alleviate Islamophobic manifestations in society. It examines the extent to which the primary tool of this campaign, a moderated Facebook discussion, can affect Islamophobic expressions and identifies the link between this discussion and deliberative forums. The thesis shows that the various techniques used in the project can positively influence the way in which the topic is discussed and can thus progressively lead to a reduction in the manifestations of Islamophobia in society. This process is discussed in relation to the theory of deliberative democracy. However, it also concerns the theory of agonistic pluralism and an agonistic dialogue. The thesis finds that the aim of the project is promoting the knowledge of Islam and Muslims that could lead to a better mutual understanding, but also to the cultivation of a conflict that is related to the topic in order to transform its character into a less harmful one. HateFree Culture is thus shown as an agonistic...

Precis The Political philosophy of John Gray touches a number of topics and also has gone thrue a couple of modifications. However this thesis aims to show that there can be found a consistent political doctrine of agonistic liberalism in Gray's thought that arises from his critigue of rationalistic theories of liberalism. Agonistic liberalism is based on the naturalistic ethical theory of value-pluralism which Gray adopted whit some modifications from Isaiah Berlin. On the ground of incommensurability and uncombinability of some values within individuel lives as well as within life forms Gray comes to conclusion that the conflict of values is ineradicable part of our lives. And that's the reason why any legel or political theory cannot set up a set of liberal principles that could claim universal validity. That is why Gray sets up the concept of modus vivendi, political ideal of coexistence of individuals, groups and societies based on mutual toleration. With regard to the rational indeterminacy of conflicts over values, according to agonistic liberalism these conflict has to by resolved by political means.

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