Abstract
“An Appeal to Authority in Authoritarian Times”
Viktoria Huegel, Phd (Universität Wien)
The recent emergence of new forms of authoritarian politics requires democratic theory to reconsider the concept of political authority. What scholars, journalists, and commentators are describing as “new authoritarianism,” I argue, constitutes an illegitimate form of governance that we see developing from within today’s liberal democracies. It arises from neoliberal frames of reference that restructure societal relations and regulate behavior in a way that paves the ground for a politics of authoritarian, personal intervention. One reason why democratic theory has been unsuccessful in resisting the rise of these new forms of authoritarian rule, is that it is unable to distinguish between authoritarian forms of rule, which actively oppress democratic contestation from civil society and undermine constitutional politics, and authoritative forms of rule, based in a relational understanding of authority that is compatible with the democratic principle of resistibility, and is necessary to an active, democratic society. This, I believe, could provide democratic theory with a conceptual framework to defend social welfare and political infrastructures against their undermining by new neoliberal market logics and far-right forces without giving up on an understanding of democracy that emphasizes contestation and movement politics.
Short bio
|
Name |
Viktoria Huegel, B.A., M.A. |
|
Position |
post-doctoral researcher |
|
Affiliation |
Universität Wien |
|
Research focus |
Political theory, radical democracy, new authoritarianism, 20th century German Political Thought, political order and disorder |
|
relevant Publications |
Hügel, Viktoria. 2024. „Toward a New Imagination of Revolutionary Struggle. Conversations with Bonnie Honig’s A Feminist Theory of Refusal.” Res Publica: Revista de Historia de las Ideas Políticas 27(1): 1–3. Hügel, Viktoria. 2024. „‘Failing Splendidly’ and the Price of Success: Feminist Struggle between Revolution and Reformation.” Res Publica: Revista de Historia de las Ideas Políticas 27(1): 57–62. Hügel, Viktoria und Judith Butler. 2020. „On the Politics of Nonviolence: An Interview with Judith Butler.” Interfere: Journal for Critical Thought and Radical Politics 1: 86–91. Hügel, Viktoria und H. Lechley. 2020. „Violence and Orders: Introduction.” Interfere: Journal for Critical Thought and Radical Politics 1: 1–4. Huegel, Viktoria. 2022. From authority to authoritarianism and back again: Max weber, carl schmitt, and hannah arendt. Dissertation. Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global |
