Election

Abstract

The chapter examines the corruption, disintegration, and renewal of democracy in relation to election. Taking issue with two canonized views on election, it shows that neither the liberal nor the republican version captures its emancipatory spirit; how it tames and shapes the essential uncertainties of the future equally. What makes election democratic is that it gives institutional body to the principle of emancipation, and secures our freedom to begin anew. On this basis, the chapter elaborates on the meaning of democratic corruption. It distinguishes between three democratic “tyrannies” in electoral politics based on distinction, virtue, and emancipation respectively: the tyranny of the majority, the tyranny of the minority, and the tyranny of novelty. It ends by discussing the future role of election as path to democratic disintegration, on the one hand, and democratic renewal, on the other.