Contemporary democratic theory tends to emphasize the importance of values and processes that channel the production of consensus, treating political conflict as harmful to democracy. Even Chantal Mouffe, who denounces this movement in her agonistic model of democracy, reaffirms the need for consensus. This paper seeks thus to resume the notion of antagonism developed by Laclau (and by Mouffe herself) and present a renewed look at the possibilities of politics, envisioning the democratic model. What is at stake in politics (and in democratic politics) is always permeated by the dimension of antagonism, and views that emphasize the need for consensus only mask unequal processes and favors the acceptance of modes of exclusion. Rethinking antagonism and its possibilities, and understanding that democratic institutions end up marked by conflicts enables their plurality and inclusion, becomes, therefore, more fruitful for democratic politics.
Antagonism; Political Conflict; Agonism; Discourse Theory; Democratic Theory