Friday 2 June 2017

Chantal Mouffe interviewed in 2007


“The consequence of the disappearance of a fundamental difference between the democratic parties of centre-left and centre-right is that people are losing interest in politics. Witness the worrying decline in voting. The reason is that most social democratic parties have moved so far towards the centre that they are unable to offer alternatives to the existing hegemonic order. No wonder people are losing interest in politics. A vibrant democratic politics needs to offer people the possibility of making genuine choices. Democratic politics must be partisan. In order to get involved in politics, citizens have to feel that real alternatives are at stake. The current disaffection with democratic parties is very bad for democratic politics… I am really worried by the celebration of the politics of “consensus at the centre” that exists today. I feel very strongly that such a post-political zeitgeist is creating favourable terrain for the rise of right-wing populism.”