Open philosophy seminar: Democracy as an experience of uncertainty

Abstract:

Democracy as an experience of uncertainty

The idea of democratisation seems to presuppose a movement towards a political order whose defining features can be specified in advance. Yet for Pierre Rosanvallon, uncertainty is constitutive of democracy itself. Can these apparently opposite modes of thinking be brought together? Rosanvallon’s thought, together with Claude Lefort’s work on political mutations of society, unveils a new perspective on democratisation that has so far remained underexamined. If democracy is defined by its incompleteness, democratisation becomes a point from which society begins to grapple with the loss of preordained power. This experience, by tracing its successes, disappointments, pathologies and inspirations, yields a source of solidary learning; one that Rosanvallon defines as democratic universalism.

And here is Dr Lelde Luika's open access article that was just publisshed:

Luika, L. (2026). Claiming ‘MyVoice’ during the global moment of democracy: prefigurative politics and post-recession activism in postsocialist Europe. Social Movement Studies, 1–17