Deliberative Deadlock and the Rise of the Social

11 Pages Posted: 28 Jan 2013

Date Written: January 27, 2013

Abstract

The 'rise of the social' is one of the most controversial elements in the work of Hannah Arendt. Critics have viewed Arendt's prohibition on 'social' questions in the political domain as evidence of hostility towards the post-war welfare state, and towards distributive justice more generally. However, by contrasting her account to an earlier analysis of the rise of the social – that advanced by the Nazi jurist Carl Schmitt – the radically pluralist and redistributive implications of Arendt's argument become apparent. Arendt's invocation of the rise of the social must be seen as a response to earlier attempts to draw anti-democratic conclusions from the political consequences of universal suffrage.

Keywords: Hannah Arendt, Carl Schmitt, rise of the social, deliberative democracy

Suggested Citation

O'Donovan, Nick, Deliberative Deadlock and the Rise of the Social (January 27, 2013). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2207611 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2207611

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