Degenerations of Democracy

Degenerations of Democracy, with Craig Calhoun, Dilip Parameshwar Gaonkar, and Charles Taylor

On January 25th, co-authors Craig Calhoun, Dilip Parameshwar Gaonkar, and Charles Taylor joined AUP for a dialogue on their recent book “Degenerations of Democracy" (Harvard University Press, 2022). Co-sponsored by the AUP Center for Communication, Media, and Global Change and the Center for Critical Democracy Studies, the event was moderated by Jayson Harsin (Director, Center for Media, Communication, and Global Change), and featured comments from Ilaria Cozzaglio (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt), Julian Culp (The American University of Paris), and Stephen Sawyer (The American University of Paris).

The evening’s discussion saw three respondents from different fields provide their readings of Calhoun, Gaonkar, and Taylor’s work. Ilaria Cozzaglio opened the discussion with her take on the normative role of conflict in democratic politics. Julian Culp then commented on how inequality affects democratic processes, while questioning whether the book’s approach could be equally applied to European and US contexts. Lastly, Stephen Sawyer grappled with the book’s positioning of the history of French and American democratic societies, and the relation between theories of sovereignty and of government in understanding that history.

The book’s authors responded in turn by discussing geographical relations between global populist responses (Calhoun), the role of transparency in democratic society (Taylor), and the inextricable ties between democratic and populist phenomena in contemporary politics (Gaonkar). The discussion ended with thanks and gratitude for a mutually enlightening exchange.

The recording of the event can be viewed below.