This book focuses on Andrew Arato's democratic theory and its relevance to contemporary issues such as processes of democratization, civil society, constitution-making, and the modern Executive. Andrew Arato is -both globally and disciplinarily- a prominent thinker in the fields of democratic theory, constitutional law, and comparative politics, influencing several generations of scholars. This is the first volume to systematically address his democratic theory. Including contributions from leading scholars such as Dick Howard, Ulrich Preuss, Hubertus Buchstein, Janos Kis, Uri Ram, Leonardo Avritzer, Carlos de la Torre, and Nicolas Lynch, this book is organized around three major areas of Aratos influence on contemporary political and social thought. The first section offers a comprehensive view of Arato's scholarship from his early work on critical theory and Western Marxism to his current research on constitution-making and its application. The second section shifts its focus from the previous, comprehensive approach, to a much more specific one: Aratos widespread influence on the study of civil society in democratization processes in Latin America. The third section includes a previously unpublished work, 'A conceptual history of dictatorship (and its rivals,)' one of the few systematic interrogations on the meaning of a political form of fundamental relevance in the contemporary world. Critical Theory and Democracy will be of interest to critical and social theorists, and all Arato scholars.

This book focuses on Andrew Arato s democratic theory and its relevance to contemporary issues such as processes of democratization, civil society, constitution-making, and the modern Executive.

Andrew Arato is -both globally and disciplinarily- a prominent thinker in the fields of democratic theory, constitutional law, and comparative politics, influencing several generations of scholars. This is the first volume to systematically address his democratic theory. Including contributions from leading scholars such as Dick Howard, Ulrich Preuss, Hubertus Buchstein, Janos Kis, Uri Ram, Leonardo Avritzer, Carlos de la Torre, and Nicol s Lynch, this book is organized around three major areas of Arato s influence on contemporary political and social thought. The first section offers a comprehensive view of Arato s scholarship from his early work on critical theory and Western Marxism to his current research on constitution-making and its application. The second section shifts its focus from the previous, comprehensive approach, to a much more specific one: Arato s widespread influence on the study of civil society in democratization processes in Latin America. The third section includes a previously unpublished work, A conceptual history of dictatorship (and its rivals, ) one of the few systematic interrogations on the meaning of a political form of fundamental relevance in the contemporary world. "

Critical Theory and Democracy" will be of interest to critical and social theorists, and all Arato scholars.

This study uses new arguments to reinvestigate the relation between aesthetics and politics in the contemporary debates on democratic theory and radical democracy. First, Carl Schmitt and Claude Lefort help delineate the contours of an aesthetico-political understanding of democracy, which is developed further by studying Merleau-Ponty, Ranciere, and Arendt. The ideas of Merleau-Ponty serve to establish a general "ontological" framework that aims to contest the dominant currents in contemporary democratic theory. It is argued that Merleau-Ponty, Arendt, and Ranciere share a general understanding of the political as the contingently contested spaces and times of appearances. However, the articulation of their thought leads to reconsider and explore under-theorized as well as controversial dimensions of their work. This search for new connections between the political and the aesthetic thought of Arendt and Merleau-Ponty on one hand and the current widespread interest in Ranciere's aesthetic politics on the other make this book a unique study that will appeal to anyone who is interested in political theory and contemporary continental philosophy.

This study uses new arguments to reinvestigate the relation between aesthetics and politics in the contemporary debates on democratic theory and radical democracy. First, Carl Schmitt and Claude Lefort help delineate the contours of an aesthetico-political understanding of democracy, which is developed further by studying Merleau-Ponty, Ranciere, and Arendt. The ideas of Merleau-Ponty serve to establish a general "ontological" framework that aims to contest the dominant currents in contemporary democratic theory. It is argued that Merleau-Ponty, Arendt, and Ranciere share a general understanding of the political as the contingently contested spaces and times of appearances. However, the articulation of their thought leads to reconsider and explore under-theorized as well as controversial dimensions of their work. This search for new connections between the political and the aesthetic thought of Arendt and Merleau-Ponty on one hand and the current widespread interest in Ranciere's aesthetic politics on the other make this book a unique study that will appeal to anyone who is interested in political theory and contemporary continental philosophy.

La inspiracion detras del titulo de esta obra es bien conocida: Poema conjetural, aquella enigmatica reflexion de Borges sobre la muerte de Laprida. Pero que podia significar, para la imaginacion del Laprida imaginado por Borges, tener un destino sudamericano? Es de la imposibilidad de dar una respuesta definitiva a esta pregunta que proviene la fuerza retorica de la frase. Lo que buscamos con esta serie de ensayos y trabajos de investigacion es extender la validez temporal de esta fuerza hasta nuestro presente, es decir, reflexionar, multidisciplinaria y convergentemente, sobre que podria significar atribuirle un destino sudamericano a la Argentina y la America de hoy. Muchos, ignorando el dinamismo al que deben ser expuestas imagenes como la borgeana, y hasta forzandola a carecer de la ambiguedad que ella contenia, no dudarian en lamentarse por la necesidad de soportar un destino sudamericano, que seria el del caos o, peor aun, el del populismo. Otros, abrazando la simplificacion opuesta, adoptarian la celebracion lineal de ese destino, que esta vez seria epico, y desligarian la aventura sudamericana de causas, si se quiere, universales, como lo son las de la igualdad y la libertad. Esperemos que estos textos ayuden a superar esta simple dicotomia.

El conjunto de ensayos aqui editados apuntan a capturar distintos aspectos de la problematica del reconocimiento y la intersubjetividad en las sociedades contemporaneas: el pasaje del reconocimiento de si al reconocimiento mutuo en el psicoanalisis; la contribucion de Hannah Arendt a la espacializacion y temporalizacion de la experiencia politica intersubjetiva; la compleja articulacion teorica entre democracia y ontologia; el rol del reconocimiento y la politica de diagnostico en R.D. Laing; la contribucion especifica de Alexandre Kojeve a la relacion entre historia y reconocimiento; el abordaje biblico-filosofico de la cuestion del otro en Levinas; y el estudio del reconocimiento y la intersubjetividad en cuestiones de ciudad y ciudadania.