Published Articles by Jonas Van Vossole
This article frames the failure of COP19 in Warsaw, the problems of the RIO+20 summit, the failur... more This article frames the failure of COP19 in Warsaw, the problems of the RIO+20 summit, the failure of the Copenhagen COP15, and the problems of the carbon markets within a broader legitimacy crisis of global governance, a consequence of the crisis of the global capitalist socio-ecology. Two mechanisms give rise to the loss of legitimacy: unequal development and mercantilization, or the reconfiguration of the power balance and the destruction of social ties. As a consequence, both winners and losers contest the legitimacy of the institutions and mechanisms that govern global capitalism. In this article, we distinguish between Marx-type contestation, referring to emerging classes/states, and Polanyi-type contestation, referring to the victims of global mercantilization. As related to climate governance, the roles of the BRICs in climate negotiations and the global environmental justice movement represent these two types of contestation of the established organizational structures within the global capitalist socio-ecology.
Van Vossole's article explores the racist framing of the peripheral member states of the European... more Van Vossole's article explores the racist framing of the peripheral member states of the European Union, the PIGS (Portugal, Ireland (and/or Italy), Greece and Spain). It demonstrates a strong connection between the processes of racialization and depoliticization, as well as the return of colonial dynamics in the Eurozone. Side-stepping political economy and history, the culturalization of politics perfectly complements the ‘post-political’ neoliberal hegemony. Political and media discourses reproduce it in both populist and corporate interests. The culturalization of politics reduces the differences between centre and periphery to certain ‘cultural characteristics and habits’, as reflected in stereotypes of laziness, non-productivity, corruption, wasteful spending and lying. These make it possible to blame the PIGS for the current crisis, legitimizing drastic austerity measures and a loss of sovereignty. The loss of sovereignty shows remarkable similarities with what Kwame Nkrumah defined as neocolonialism: the continuation of colonial power relations through processes of economic dependence, conditional aid and cultural hegemony. While this problematic only resurfaced during the recent Euro crisis, Van Vossole discusses how today's racist discourses and neocolonial politics have their roots in the past, particularly in anti-Irish and anti-Mediterranean racism and in the (semi-)colonial position of the PIGS in the British and Ottoman empires. Besides structural violence against the periphery, a major consequence of this racialization is that it jeopardizes any possibility of further democratic political integration on the basis of a common European identity.
Cabo do Trabalhos, 2014
This paper studies the effects of the crisis on dem
ocracy. Its methodology is based on a
diale... more This paper studies the effects of the crisis on dem
ocracy. Its methodology is based on a
dialectic-materialist approach of ideology. Democra
cy is approached as a crucial ideological
element in the legitimation of capitalist political
economy. Molded by the social struggles,
democracy evolved in an antagonistic relation with
capitalism. Every hegemonic crisis affects
the dominant meaning of democracy, creating diverge
nt narratives about it. This is illustrated in
the case of Portugal. Policymakers and the Troika s
till defend the dominant elitist
representative democracy. Unions and the old left d
efend the necessity of social rights, as a
substantive part of democracy. The newest social mo
vements demand a participative and
deliberative forms. The last section explores some
possible hegemonic re-articulations.
Revista Critica das Ciencias Sociais, Oct 2013
Este artigo enquadra os atuais problemas da Rio+20, o falhanço da Cimeira de Copenhaga (COP15... more Este artigo enquadra os atuais problemas da Rio+20, o falhanço da Cimeira de Copenhaga (COP15) e, mais recentemente, dos mercados de carvão numa ampla crise de legitimidade da governança global, consequência da crise global da socioecologia capitalista. Dois mecanismos dão origem a esta perda de legitimidade, o desenvolvimento desigual e a mercantilização; ou seja a reconfiguração das relações de força entre atores e a destruição dos laços sociais. Como resultado, tanto vencedores como perdedores contestam a legitimidade das instituições que governam a reprodução do capitalismo global. Neste artigo distinguimos respetivamente a contestação tipo‑Marx de novas/os classes/Estados emergentes e tipo‑Polanyi das vítimas da mercantilização global. Na esfera da governança climática, estes vencedores e perdedores são representados pelos BRICS nas negociações climáticas e pelo movimento global de justiça ambiental.
Conference Presentations by Jonas Van Vossole
Ruy Mauro Marini's 1972 analysis on how Brazil-as a semi-peripheral country-developing its own fo... more Ruy Mauro Marini's 1972 analysis on how Brazil-as a semi-peripheral country-developing its own form of imperialist politics, was confronted with the limits of its own dependency of international capital, never seemed so actual as today. Since the turn of the millennium we have seen the rise of Brazil, as one of the BRICS, the new Global imperial players, based upon a boom in commodities and a fragile national interclass compromise led by the PT. Increasing foreign investments in Latin America and Africa-particularly in commodity markets-by Brazilian multinationals such as Vale, Petrobras, the agro-industry and Brazilian banks, were accompanied with an increasingly assertive position of the Brazilian state in its sphere of influence and on the world stage. Examples are the tensions with Paraguay and Bolivia, its role in Haiti, its critique of the existing institutionalization of Global governance institutions and its affirmation as the global Eco-power in Climate policies. The recent crisis however, has shown that the Brazilian political economy is not just marked by imperialist dynamics, but equally shows a strong dependency on global capitalism and central imperialist powers. At the same time that climate governance is increasingly confronted with a legitimacy crisis, contracting export-markets, capital-flight and exploding bubbles of financial speculation have thrown the Brazilian economy back into a deep crisis, weakening both its internal economy as well as the legitimacy of the state itself: a situation marked by a rise of social struggles and the delegitimation of the political and judicial system in corruption scandals, culminating so far in the widely contested parliamentary-judicial coup against former president Dilma Rousseff.
The economic conditions and austerity policies in Southern Europe have produced a
hegemonic cris... more The economic conditions and austerity policies in Southern Europe have produced a
hegemonic crisis of democracy. While unions and the traditional left questioned the idea of a
democracy without its social substance in the form of social right - new social movements have
radicalized the idea. Demanding “democracia real ya!”, they directly attacked representation
and the political system as a whole. This paper makes a critical analysis of the anti-political and
anti-ideological stance of the newest social movements in Portugal and problematizes its
possible articulation with the post-political elements of the dominant neoliberal form.
Therefore it first discusses the concept of depolitization and post-politics and its link with the
dominant neoliberal ideology. Then this framework is then applied to the founding manifestos
of a selection of 6 anti-austerity social movements; Movimento Geração á Rasca, Movimento
12 Março, Acampada do Rossio, Indignados de Lisboa, Acampada de Coimbra and Que Se Lixe
a Troika. In each of these manifestoes the elements that reflect the post-political discourse
about democracy are selected and criticized. These elements include the self-identification as
“personal” and “post-ideological”, taking distance of (party)politics and addressing the crisis as
a problem of “politicians”. We will argue that this critique of “the old way of doing politics”
and the post-ideological stance; as well as the ilusions in participative democracy as such,
actually are Fukuyamaist, and avoid addressing the structural problems of the political
economy behind the crisis. A conscience of these post-political elements is crucial to avoid a
cooptation of this discourse in the dominant neoliberal framework and to make possible an
articulation with other anti-capitalist forces in order to bring forward a unified counter
hegemonic discourse able to mobilise and politicize the different layers of society against
austerity policies.
The economic conditions and austerity policies in Southern Europe have produced a hegemonic crisi... more The economic conditions and austerity policies in Southern Europe have produced a hegemonic crisis of democracy. While unions and the traditional left questioned the idea of a democracy without its social substance in the form of social right - new social movements have radicalized the idea. Demanding “democracia real ya!”, they directly attacked representation and the political system as a whole. This paper makes a critical analysis of the anti-political and anti-ideological stance of the newest social movements in Portugal and problematizes its possible articulation with the post-political elements of the dominant neoliberal form. Therefore it first discusses the concept of depolitization and post-politics and its link with the dominant neoliberal ideology. Then this framework is then applied to the founding manifestos of a selection of 6 anti-austerity social movements; Movimento Geração á Rasca, Movimento 12 Março, Acampada do Rossio, Indignados de Lisboa, Acampada de Coimbra and Que Se Lixe a Troika. In each of these manifestoes the elements that reflect the post-political discourse about democracy are selected and criticized. These elements include the self-identification as “personal” and “post-ideological”, taking distance of (party)politics and addressing the crisis as a problem of “politicians”. We will argue that this critique of “the old way of doing politics” and the post-ideological stance; as well as the ilusions in participative democracy as such, actually are Fukuyamaist, and avoid addressing the structural problems of the political economy behind the crisis. A conscience of these post-political elements is crucial to avoid a cooptation of this discourse in the dominant neoliberal framework and to make possible an articulation with other anti-capitalist forces in order to bring forward a unified counter hegemonic discourse able to mobilise and politicize the different layers of society against austerity policies
This article is an inquiry into “crisis” as an analytical concept, eventually to be applied upon ... more This article is an inquiry into “crisis” as an analytical concept, eventually to be applied upon the “democracy”. It recovers the conceptual history of the concept of crisis. Throughout history, from its origin in Greek mythology and philosophy, to its modern scientific meanings, crisis has always been connected to the idea of “immanence” and an apparent opposition between subjectivity and objectivity. The concept of crisis explores the boundaries between judgment and process, between ideology and material circumstances and is therefore closely linked to the historical, dialectical, critical and emacipatory perspectives in social science. This crisis-perspective is applied in an analysis of the influence of the euro-crisis upon democracy within the setting of the Portuguese social conflict. Throughout history, every hegemonic crisis of capitalism has affected the dominant meanings of democracy. Hegemonic breakdown of the liberal, electoral representative democratic model in the peripheral areas of the European Union, created the space for – and is created by - divergent narratives about democracy.
This research studies the effects of the euro-crisis on the legitimacy of democracy. Within the r... more This research studies the effects of the euro-crisis on the legitimacy of democracy. Within the research field, the definition of democracy has become a very problematic. This obliged me to abandon the idea of using a fixed concept of democracy, forcing to focus on the interaction of the crisis with the conceptualization of democracy itself. Democracy becomes a contested concept, not only within the academic democratic theory, but essentially as an ideological concept, a product of social struggles.
This paper draws a critical approach of the austerity measures imposed on the so-called PIGS. Par... more This paper draws a critical approach of the austerity measures imposed on the so-called PIGS. Particularly, it explores the recent racist framing in political and media discourses of the peripheral member states of the EU, during the debt crisis and decomposition of the Eurozone. The paper observes a relation between Core and Periphery of the Eurozone system based on 3 elements; racism, neocolonialism and uneven development. A racist narrative is constructed which blames the PIGS and their inhabitants for the crisis on the basis of “cultural characteristics and habits”, such as laziness, non-productivity, corruption, wasteful spending and lying. This culturalization of politics (Brown 2008), which reduces the political and economic divergences between center and periphery to a cultural problem between a culture of productivity and one of laziness, legitimates drastic austerity measures and loss of sovereignty. The combination of recent adjustments and the racist narrative is the construction of a new type of colonialism within the EU, very similar to what Nkrumah (1965) observed in the neocolonial world. A democratic solution for the crisis requires the politicization and political integration of all citizens of the EU as equal citizens, although this currently seems impossible
The main purpose of this paper is to make an analysis of the policy-legitimizing discourses of th... more The main purpose of this paper is to make an analysis of the policy-legitimizing discourses of the political-economic executive in Portugal considering the social and economic crisis the country is going through, and how this democratic legitimation is linked to democratic theory. The first parts of this article, is going to sketch the context of today's rhetoric and a framework to analyse the discourse. The second is an empirical study in which we will try to show the application of this framework, discussing 4 cases; the TINA discourse, an interview with a high representative of the Troika, the media discussions about the "grandoladas" and the discussion about the case of the budgetary reproval by the constitutional court.
This article frames recent problems of the RIO+20 summit, the failure of the Copenhagen COP15 and... more This article frames recent problems of the RIO+20 summit, the failure of the Copenhagen COP15 and the problems of the carbon markets within a broader legitimacy crisis of Global Governance, consequence of the crisis of the global capitalist socio-ecology. Two mechanisms give rise to the loss of legitimacy; unequal development and mercantilization, or the reconfiguration of the power balance and the destruction of social ties. As a consequence both winners and losers contest the legitimacy of the institutions and mechanisms that govern global capitalism. In this article, we distinguish Marx-type of contestation, referring to emerging classes/states and Polanyi-type of contestation, referring to the victims of global mercantilization. In the case of Climate governance, these are represented by the role of the BRIC’s in climate negotiations and by the global environmental justice movement.
"This paper addresses contestation and legitimation crisis at the level of local power. It studie... more "This paper addresses contestation and legitimation crisis at the level of local power. It studies the interconnection between the dynamics of the economic conjuncture of capitalism and local power legitimation. The theoretical perspective is based on Habermas’(1975) conception of the legitimacy crisis of governance within a capitalist system. To make sense of different complex dynamics, we will isolate the perspective for the local setting.
How does the legitimation crisis expresses itself on the local level and how do local policy-makers deal with it? This is the central question I want to discuss in this paper. I argue that the strategies used by those policy-makers can be categorized on the basis of the two dimensions of legitimacy, the procedural and substantive, and on their exclusionary or inclusionary character.
"
Drafts by Jonas Van Vossole
Historical Materialism conference, 2021
This presentation seeks to develop and systematize Rosa Luxemburg’s approach of imperialism as a ... more This presentation seeks to develop and systematize Rosa Luxemburg’s approach of imperialism as a tool to understand the relation between capital, the state and its boundaries. Since the dawn of capitalist modernity, these boundaries of capitalist/modern civilization are considered as “nature”, as non-conquered, wild territories. These include phenomena which are “naturalized”, such as feminine bodies, “uncivilized” races.
Over the last decades various Marxist authors have been inspired by Luxemburg to apply her approach to several of these “natural” fields. To name some examples: Maria Mies and Silvia Frederici have developed in the idea of primary accumulation on the economy of the family and female bodies. Jason Moore has used it in the field of nature and climate. Nancy Fraser focussed on it in her debate with Dawson on the question of racial capitalism, Santos has developed the same logic in his paradigm on the Abissal line.
Originally, in Accumulation of Capital, Rosa Luxemburg, built upon Marx’s Capital further developing upon the phenomenon of primary accumulation. Rather than approaching primary accumulation as a mere initial phase of the development of capitalism, Rosa Luxemburg’s theory of imperialism assumed that primary accumulation is a continuing process, which happens not only before but also parallel to expanded accumulation. From this perspective, value is continuously extracted both through exploitation and dispossession, the latter occurring in the relation between capital and non-capitalist economies. This presentation argues that Luxemburg’s analysis of the relation between capitalism and external economies, and the role of the state and violence, is applicable to the wider concept of nature as a whole. In his Critique of the Gotha Program, Marx defended that value derived from two components: nature and human labour. Luxemburg shows us how capital dispossesses nature’s value through the colonial enterprise of sacking, enclosure, the metabolic rift, etc.
Capital deals with the identities of gender and race in a similar way as it does to nature. In the historical development of bourgeois ideology, race and gender are literally “naturalized”: within the framework of primary accumulation racialized people are pushed towards the fringes of civilization and humanity, robbed of their history and rationality, they are attributed animalistic characteristics. In the same way, women have long time been denied rationality has their essence been restricted to their natural body and have they been pushed towards the “natural” activities of reproduction.
This paper will argue that Luxemburg’s perspective on Imperialism provides an advantaged perspective to understand race and gender within the context of capitalist development, the formation of value, and how this influences different forms of social consciousness and potentializes the articulation of social struggles.
The effects of the euro-crisis in Portugal have led to a breakdown of a democratic hegemony, whic... more The effects of the euro-crisis in Portugal have led to a breakdown of a democratic hegemony, which had been around for nearly 40 years. The first section of this article analyses how the crisis rendered its balanced configuration of forces around European/occidental integration and a developing social welfare state through the form of a representative parliamentary democracy unsustainable, leading to a generalized democratic legitimacy crisis, comparable to similar events in other countries since 2011. An outburst of huge protest movements and the emergence of a period of “demodiversity” with a wide range of alternative democratic perspectives – with the indignado-like “acampadas” as the most well-known example, challenged the previously hegemonic liberal representative model. During the following years, the object of the wider anger towards the political system in general came to be evermore embodied within the person of the prime minister, Passos Coelho, and the Troika institutions. With the 2015 general election approaching, social protest was increasingly canalized towards an electoral drive to oust the incumbent right wing government. The second section of this article thus explores how the period of waiting for a reconfiguration – with different deliberative, utopistic and participative democratic horizons - led back into an electoral representative logic. The paper concludes that what came into life as a propagandistic/tactical discourse was through the internal systemic logic institutionalized in a renewed - though feeble - electoralist reconfiguration, formalized through the legitimating discourses around the leftwing - Geringonça - government agreement.
This paper attempts to bring a contribution to the relatively recent debate about the legitimacy... more This paper attempts to bring a contribution to the relatively recent debate about the legitimacy of Global Governance among authors as Bodansky (1999), Bernstein (2004), Buchanan & Keohane (2006) and Paterson (2010). According to most of those authors, the questions of legitimacy of Global Governance arise because of the process of Globalization and the need for strengthening its institutionalization. In this paper, however, I will try to defend that this questions exactly arise because of a downturn in the trend of Globalization, claiming there is a wave-pattern in Globalization. I claim that Global governance is the result of the institutionalization of dialectical process between accumulation and the need for legitimation which has always been a central tension in the reproduction of the capitalist system (Paterson 2010).
This paper defends that the rising contestation of globalization by social movements in the core of the world-system and the rising appeal for “democratization” of the institutions of Global Governance is the consequence of an underlying dynamic of the accumulation process, provoking a legitimation crisis. The continuing phases of capital accumulation on a global scale and the waves of resistance against it, create a wave-pattern of legitimation and delegitimation of Global Governance. These play a crucial role in producing the future of the world system. Analysing them is crucial to understand past present and future developments. (Chase-Dunn & Gills 2003, p.6)
This paper offers an alternative model for the interplay of economic crisis with democratic legit... more This paper offers an alternative model for the interplay of economic crisis with democratic legitimacy. It focusses on the procedural and substantive dimensions of democratic legitimacy and discovers a sequential pattern; economic crisis first affects the substantive legitimacy of the system which leads to the popular questioning of the procedural dimension, visualizing the limits of the minimalist approach of democracy in legitimizing the system solely by procedures. The first section of this paper discusses the original debate between the classical (substantive) approach of democracy and its Schumpeterian (minimalist) alternative. The second part focusses on the different dimensions of legitimacy and how they could be measured. The third part focusses on the interplay between economic crisis and democratic legitimacy and builds a sequential model on the base of the substantive and procedural dimensions of legitimacy. The fourth part brings in some cases to substantiate the model, and the last part draws some conclusions and complexifies the model.
One of the practical issues that dominates the debate within the left and in the Portuguese socie... more One of the practical issues that dominates the debate within the left and in the Portuguese society in general as a consequence of the Euro Crisis, is the question if Portugal should or should not stay in the Eurozone. Since the intervention of Troika in Portugal we have seen different organizations on the left and on the right take different points of view in this issue. A deeper understanding of this issue is crucial to find possible ways out of the current crisis situation.
The first section will address the methodological issues. The second section will draw the historical context of euro-scepticism in Portugal. The third section will draw the mainstream theoretical arguments on optimal currency areas. In the fourth section we draw the arguments pro and against the euro-exit on the basis of texts of the BE and the PCP. In the fifth section I will show how a Parallax view (Zizek, 2006) could solve the problem for their contradictions.
Opinion Articles by Jonas Van Vossole
socialisme.be, Nov 14, 2012
Uploads
Published Articles by Jonas Van Vossole
ocracy. Its methodology is based on a
dialectic-materialist approach of ideology. Democra
cy is approached as a crucial ideological
element in the legitimation of capitalist political
economy. Molded by the social struggles,
democracy evolved in an antagonistic relation with
capitalism. Every hegemonic crisis affects
the dominant meaning of democracy, creating diverge
nt narratives about it. This is illustrated in
the case of Portugal. Policymakers and the Troika s
till defend the dominant elitist
representative democracy. Unions and the old left d
efend the necessity of social rights, as a
substantive part of democracy. The newest social mo
vements demand a participative and
deliberative forms. The last section explores some
possible hegemonic re-articulations.
Conference Presentations by Jonas Van Vossole
hegemonic crisis of democracy. While unions and the traditional left questioned the idea of a
democracy without its social substance in the form of social right - new social movements have
radicalized the idea. Demanding “democracia real ya!”, they directly attacked representation
and the political system as a whole. This paper makes a critical analysis of the anti-political and
anti-ideological stance of the newest social movements in Portugal and problematizes its
possible articulation with the post-political elements of the dominant neoliberal form.
Therefore it first discusses the concept of depolitization and post-politics and its link with the
dominant neoliberal ideology. Then this framework is then applied to the founding manifestos
of a selection of 6 anti-austerity social movements; Movimento Geração á Rasca, Movimento
12 Março, Acampada do Rossio, Indignados de Lisboa, Acampada de Coimbra and Que Se Lixe
a Troika. In each of these manifestoes the elements that reflect the post-political discourse
about democracy are selected and criticized. These elements include the self-identification as
“personal” and “post-ideological”, taking distance of (party)politics and addressing the crisis as
a problem of “politicians”. We will argue that this critique of “the old way of doing politics”
and the post-ideological stance; as well as the ilusions in participative democracy as such,
actually are Fukuyamaist, and avoid addressing the structural problems of the political
economy behind the crisis. A conscience of these post-political elements is crucial to avoid a
cooptation of this discourse in the dominant neoliberal framework and to make possible an
articulation with other anti-capitalist forces in order to bring forward a unified counter
hegemonic discourse able to mobilise and politicize the different layers of society against
austerity policies.
How does the legitimation crisis expresses itself on the local level and how do local policy-makers deal with it? This is the central question I want to discuss in this paper. I argue that the strategies used by those policy-makers can be categorized on the basis of the two dimensions of legitimacy, the procedural and substantive, and on their exclusionary or inclusionary character.
"
Drafts by Jonas Van Vossole
Over the last decades various Marxist authors have been inspired by Luxemburg to apply her approach to several of these “natural” fields. To name some examples: Maria Mies and Silvia Frederici have developed in the idea of primary accumulation on the economy of the family and female bodies. Jason Moore has used it in the field of nature and climate. Nancy Fraser focussed on it in her debate with Dawson on the question of racial capitalism, Santos has developed the same logic in his paradigm on the Abissal line.
Originally, in Accumulation of Capital, Rosa Luxemburg, built upon Marx’s Capital further developing upon the phenomenon of primary accumulation. Rather than approaching primary accumulation as a mere initial phase of the development of capitalism, Rosa Luxemburg’s theory of imperialism assumed that primary accumulation is a continuing process, which happens not only before but also parallel to expanded accumulation. From this perspective, value is continuously extracted both through exploitation and dispossession, the latter occurring in the relation between capital and non-capitalist economies. This presentation argues that Luxemburg’s analysis of the relation between capitalism and external economies, and the role of the state and violence, is applicable to the wider concept of nature as a whole. In his Critique of the Gotha Program, Marx defended that value derived from two components: nature and human labour. Luxemburg shows us how capital dispossesses nature’s value through the colonial enterprise of sacking, enclosure, the metabolic rift, etc.
Capital deals with the identities of gender and race in a similar way as it does to nature. In the historical development of bourgeois ideology, race and gender are literally “naturalized”: within the framework of primary accumulation racialized people are pushed towards the fringes of civilization and humanity, robbed of their history and rationality, they are attributed animalistic characteristics. In the same way, women have long time been denied rationality has their essence been restricted to their natural body and have they been pushed towards the “natural” activities of reproduction.
This paper will argue that Luxemburg’s perspective on Imperialism provides an advantaged perspective to understand race and gender within the context of capitalist development, the formation of value, and how this influences different forms of social consciousness and potentializes the articulation of social struggles.
This paper defends that the rising contestation of globalization by social movements in the core of the world-system and the rising appeal for “democratization” of the institutions of Global Governance is the consequence of an underlying dynamic of the accumulation process, provoking a legitimation crisis. The continuing phases of capital accumulation on a global scale and the waves of resistance against it, create a wave-pattern of legitimation and delegitimation of Global Governance. These play a crucial role in producing the future of the world system. Analysing them is crucial to understand past present and future developments. (Chase-Dunn & Gills 2003, p.6)
The first section will address the methodological issues. The second section will draw the historical context of euro-scepticism in Portugal. The third section will draw the mainstream theoretical arguments on optimal currency areas. In the fourth section we draw the arguments pro and against the euro-exit on the basis of texts of the BE and the PCP. In the fifth section I will show how a Parallax view (Zizek, 2006) could solve the problem for their contradictions.
Opinion Articles by Jonas Van Vossole
ocracy. Its methodology is based on a
dialectic-materialist approach of ideology. Democra
cy is approached as a crucial ideological
element in the legitimation of capitalist political
economy. Molded by the social struggles,
democracy evolved in an antagonistic relation with
capitalism. Every hegemonic crisis affects
the dominant meaning of democracy, creating diverge
nt narratives about it. This is illustrated in
the case of Portugal. Policymakers and the Troika s
till defend the dominant elitist
representative democracy. Unions and the old left d
efend the necessity of social rights, as a
substantive part of democracy. The newest social mo
vements demand a participative and
deliberative forms. The last section explores some
possible hegemonic re-articulations.
hegemonic crisis of democracy. While unions and the traditional left questioned the idea of a
democracy without its social substance in the form of social right - new social movements have
radicalized the idea. Demanding “democracia real ya!”, they directly attacked representation
and the political system as a whole. This paper makes a critical analysis of the anti-political and
anti-ideological stance of the newest social movements in Portugal and problematizes its
possible articulation with the post-political elements of the dominant neoliberal form.
Therefore it first discusses the concept of depolitization and post-politics and its link with the
dominant neoliberal ideology. Then this framework is then applied to the founding manifestos
of a selection of 6 anti-austerity social movements; Movimento Geração á Rasca, Movimento
12 Março, Acampada do Rossio, Indignados de Lisboa, Acampada de Coimbra and Que Se Lixe
a Troika. In each of these manifestoes the elements that reflect the post-political discourse
about democracy are selected and criticized. These elements include the self-identification as
“personal” and “post-ideological”, taking distance of (party)politics and addressing the crisis as
a problem of “politicians”. We will argue that this critique of “the old way of doing politics”
and the post-ideological stance; as well as the ilusions in participative democracy as such,
actually are Fukuyamaist, and avoid addressing the structural problems of the political
economy behind the crisis. A conscience of these post-political elements is crucial to avoid a
cooptation of this discourse in the dominant neoliberal framework and to make possible an
articulation with other anti-capitalist forces in order to bring forward a unified counter
hegemonic discourse able to mobilise and politicize the different layers of society against
austerity policies.
How does the legitimation crisis expresses itself on the local level and how do local policy-makers deal with it? This is the central question I want to discuss in this paper. I argue that the strategies used by those policy-makers can be categorized on the basis of the two dimensions of legitimacy, the procedural and substantive, and on their exclusionary or inclusionary character.
"
Over the last decades various Marxist authors have been inspired by Luxemburg to apply her approach to several of these “natural” fields. To name some examples: Maria Mies and Silvia Frederici have developed in the idea of primary accumulation on the economy of the family and female bodies. Jason Moore has used it in the field of nature and climate. Nancy Fraser focussed on it in her debate with Dawson on the question of racial capitalism, Santos has developed the same logic in his paradigm on the Abissal line.
Originally, in Accumulation of Capital, Rosa Luxemburg, built upon Marx’s Capital further developing upon the phenomenon of primary accumulation. Rather than approaching primary accumulation as a mere initial phase of the development of capitalism, Rosa Luxemburg’s theory of imperialism assumed that primary accumulation is a continuing process, which happens not only before but also parallel to expanded accumulation. From this perspective, value is continuously extracted both through exploitation and dispossession, the latter occurring in the relation between capital and non-capitalist economies. This presentation argues that Luxemburg’s analysis of the relation between capitalism and external economies, and the role of the state and violence, is applicable to the wider concept of nature as a whole. In his Critique of the Gotha Program, Marx defended that value derived from two components: nature and human labour. Luxemburg shows us how capital dispossesses nature’s value through the colonial enterprise of sacking, enclosure, the metabolic rift, etc.
Capital deals with the identities of gender and race in a similar way as it does to nature. In the historical development of bourgeois ideology, race and gender are literally “naturalized”: within the framework of primary accumulation racialized people are pushed towards the fringes of civilization and humanity, robbed of their history and rationality, they are attributed animalistic characteristics. In the same way, women have long time been denied rationality has their essence been restricted to their natural body and have they been pushed towards the “natural” activities of reproduction.
This paper will argue that Luxemburg’s perspective on Imperialism provides an advantaged perspective to understand race and gender within the context of capitalist development, the formation of value, and how this influences different forms of social consciousness and potentializes the articulation of social struggles.
This paper defends that the rising contestation of globalization by social movements in the core of the world-system and the rising appeal for “democratization” of the institutions of Global Governance is the consequence of an underlying dynamic of the accumulation process, provoking a legitimation crisis. The continuing phases of capital accumulation on a global scale and the waves of resistance against it, create a wave-pattern of legitimation and delegitimation of Global Governance. These play a crucial role in producing the future of the world system. Analysing them is crucial to understand past present and future developments. (Chase-Dunn & Gills 2003, p.6)
The first section will address the methodological issues. The second section will draw the historical context of euro-scepticism in Portugal. The third section will draw the mainstream theoretical arguments on optimal currency areas. In the fourth section we draw the arguments pro and against the euro-exit on the basis of texts of the BE and the PCP. In the fifth section I will show how a Parallax view (Zizek, 2006) could solve the problem for their contradictions.
Both the concepts of hegemony and demo-diversity have been developed by academics engaged in the anti-capitalist struggles as theoretical and strategic answers on how emancipatory movements could deal with bourgeois liberal democracy. The concept of Hegemony was developed by Antonio Gramsci in the context of the interwar period. He argued that the institutionalization of capitalist democracy after the first world war had enabled the bourgeois class to rule by consent and revolutionary organizations had to adapt their strategies to this hegemony. Based on this concept of hegemony and inspired by the struggles of the Portuguese revolutionary period and experiences in the post-colonial world, Boaventura de Sousa Santos developed the concept of demo-diversity to contest the hegemonic position of liberal elitist democracy in the neoliberal age.
There seems to be an apparent contradiction between both. Gramsci clearly argues that the party, the modern prince, as the representative of the universal class, should struggle for hegemony. No such thing is present in the concept of demo-diversity. On the contrary; the aim is exactly that demo-diversity serves as a legitimation of struggles against a democratic monoculture - particularly if mono-culture is based on a hegemonic depoliticized transclass-consensus, neglecting non-represented or exluded parts of the consensus. This apparent contradiction stands for a fierce academic debate, particularly in Brazil, between “orthodox Marxist” and “post-modern” intellectuals.
I argue that this intellectual contradiction is only the consequence of different temporalities and changing particular conditions in the political struggle. As both concepts have been developed as strategic political concepts for the social struggles, as any strategy; their usefulness depends on the concrete circumstances and specific goals in the process of struggle for political power and social emancipation. I argue that “demo-diversity” as a legitimacy-claim of different forms of democratic legitimacy is both a useful step to break the hegemonic form of bourgeois democratic governance as a certain form of self-critique. The hegemonization of one political economic alternative; the struggle for universalization of an oppressed particular, remains crucial I argue. It is this struggle for hegemony which sustains democracy as a process of social and political emancipation and is the essential part of “the political”.
I use this crisis-perspective in an analysis of the influence of the euro-crisis on democracy within the setting of the Portuguese social conflict and particularly the phenomenon of the breakdown of the hegemony of the liberal, electoral representative democratic model in the peripheral areas of the European Union. Democracy is here approached as “ideology” with a particular role of legitimizing and protecting established relations in the political economy. In this paper we’ll show how Democracy has been molded by the social struggles, and thus co-evolved in an antagonistic relation with capitalism.
Throughout history, every hegemonic crisis of capitalism has affected the dominant meanings of democracy. Hegemonic breakdown of democratic hegemony creates the space for – and is created by - divergent narratives about the idea. This kind of crisis-process is illustrated in the case of Portugal: Policymakers and the Troika still defend the dominant elitist representative democracy. Unions and the old left defend the necessity of social rights, as a substantive part of democracy and the newest social movements demand participative and deliberative forms."
While unions and the traditional left questioned the idea of a democracy without its social substance in the form of social right - new social movements have radicalized the idea. Demanding “democracia real ya!”, the 15M movement – but also M12M movement and other occupy movements – tended directly attack representation and the political system as a whole. This “anti-political” and “anti-party” positions tended to create a inimical relation between the “old” organized left and the new social movements. This paper makes a critical analysis of the anti-political and anti-ideological stance of most of the newest social movements and problematizes its possible articulation with the post-political elements of the dominant neoliberal form. It will also discuss if the “old left” idea of a democracy based on a social welfare state and social rights still has a counterhegemonic possibility and why it is failing to articulate the struggles with the newest social movements.
The international character of financial capitalism, the global effects of the recent financial meltdown and the similar circumstances of the political-economic developments in the European periphery laid the basis for the international character of protest-movements. From the Arab spring to Wall street, over the indignados and traditional trade-union strikes, protests emerged against the economic crisis. While some of the resistance found its ideological articulation in internationalist solidarity, such as the Global Spring movement, recently - particularly due to the electoral systems – the protests against the conditions of the crisis have been re-articulated in the form of nationalist discourses about democracy. We will critically review those stances addressing their implications and vulnerabilities.
Every of those re-articulations will be illustrated with examples from Portugal, but the processes are easily applicable to Spain, Greece, and even – though in a lesser extent to other countries.
The rightwing reflected a elitist parliamentary model of democracy as a continuation of the logic of the primavera Marcelista. The military leftwing alliance MFA/Povo had a much more participative approach, regarding popular mobilization and participation as the base of its revolutionary legitimacy. The communist party saw patriotic liberal democracy with the acquisition of workers’ rights as an essential stage towards a socialist transformation of society, while the organizations on its left claimed that democracy was only compatible with socialism. The rightwing military such as Spinola on the other hand claimed to mobilize “the silent majority” against the “communist danger”. During the PREC, the period of intense social struggles between 1974 and 1976, the continuing ideological clashes between these different “democratic traditions” reflected the violent “material” confrontations; revolutionary reforms and reactionary violence, such as in the “verão quente”, the 11 of March coup, the “reforma agraria”…
The military coup of 25 of November 1976 symbolized the end of PREC and the institutionalization of power-relations in a constitutional representative political democracy around two poles. The PSD and CDS constituted the right, the PCP, the extra-parliamentary left, the left wing of the PS and the CGTP the left pole. Since, for the rightwing pole democracy meant a liberal formal conceptualization of democracy based on representative democracy, stability, the rule of law, property rights and free markets. It sees “Europe” and European integration as the perfect partner for implementing these bourgeois tasks which it was never able to implement. For the left democracy means continuation of “the revolution”, symbolizing social justice, workers rights, the development of a social welfare system, popular and national sovereignty. Around these two poles, around “Europe” and “the revolution”, a relatively sustainable hegemonic interpretation of democracy emerged. Particularly in the period of growth after the integration in the EC and the end of the Cold war, both interpretations of the post-revolutionary compromise could co-habit and complemented each other.
Todays crisis however has put a high pressure on both pillars of “democracy”; for the anti-austerity-protestors it becomes hardly possible to recognize themselves in a “Europe” which is identified with austerity, lack of sovereignty, post-political technocracy. At the same time, the ideas of “the revolution”; the April-constitution, the social “privileges” and the power of social mobilization become unsustainable for a sustainable economy, financial property rights and European requirements. In this declining hegemony, fierce public debates re-emerge in new social turmoil; about what democracy is today and about the heritage of the revolution.
the emergence of the Occupy movements and the Arab Spring, these certainties seemed to eclipse instantly. The main objective of this research was to discover why and how democracy was going through such a legitimacy crisis. This thesis is an inquiry into the relation between crisis and democracy based on the case-study of austerity-ridden Portugal between 2011 and 2015. Based upon a historical analysis of democratic theory throughout the evolution of capitalism and a critical analysis of the concept of crisis in the construction of political knowledge, this research studies the relationship between Portugal’s political economy and the development of its democracy; from the period of fascism, over the Carnation Revolution and the European integration process to its present period of crisis and austerity. Our research is based upon the idea that democracy is an ideological concept – in which ideology refers to the medium through which consciousness and meaningfulness operate – and that crises emerge the “fundamental contradictions in society”; breaking up
the hegemonic consensus. As diverging, potentially legitimate interests emerge, the dissensus in society is concentrated in the conceptualization of democracy itself, producing divergent narratives and perspectives of it: a Demodiversity is the apparent expression of the
crisis of the hegemonic form of democracy. Such hypothesis has been substantiated by applying a critical discourse analysis to interviews of the various sides of the social conflict under austerity conditions. Besides the 67 people that were interviewed at the anti-austerity
protests; we also interviewed 8 key-players: policymakers, opposition members of parliament, social movement activists and Trade Union leaders. For at least three decades, the traditional liberal-democratic democratic discourse has based upon the technocratic
depoliticization and the culturalization of political problems, while government policies are formally legitimized based on procedures, law, elections, parliamentary majorities, ratified treaties and constitutional judgements. Austerity only deepened and normalized the
neoliberal dimensions of inevitability and exceptionality. Besides the dominant model, we distinguished three other competing discourses of democracy which could have formed an alternative democratic content: the Acampadas, the Trade Union model, and the alternative
party model. While the union discourse focusses on a conceptualization of democracy based upon everyday working and living conditions, collective action and direct participation, the social movements were more utopic by focussing on systemic change, horizontality, and
practices of prefiguration. The discourse of the parties, was more institutionalist, focussed on organization, power, and the state, focussing on social and constitutional rights, elections,
history, ideology, and strategy. This thesis argues that an articulation between these models – in the form of socialism – is necessary to present a viable alternative to the hegemonic liberal-democratic form. We conclude this thesis by critically analysing possible shortcomings of the separate alternative discourses, and how, to different extent, they were rearticulated back into the hegemonic liberal-democratic model of democracy. Notably, we focus on how aspects of depolitization and aesthetics in the assembly movements and how the excessive hope in electoral change and subsequent coalition-negotiations around the Geringonça-project did not solve the structural problems behind the democratic crisis.