Agonistic Democracy Rethinking Political Institutions in Pluralist Times

"Much of the theoretical debate on the design of democratic institutions is dominated by the ideas and principles of deliberative democrats. Marie Paxton argues cogently why agonistic democrats need to overcome their relunctance to engage constructively with questions of institutional design. Through careful consideration of contemporary developments in democratic theory and practice, Paxton opens up a significant new perspective on how agonistic principles such as contestation can reorientate our thinking." - Graham Smith, Professor of Politics, Centre for the Study of Democracy, University of Westminster

"Marie Paxton's book aims to move us from invocations of an agonistic ethos to the design of agonistic institutions. Developing an analytic account of adversarial, inclusive and perfectionist strands of agonistic political theory, she draws on New Institutionalist approaches in political science, the use of experimental methods, and studies of democratic innovations to initiate an institutional design agenda for agonistic democracy. This work marks a necessary and welcome step forward for the agonistic theory of democracy." - David Owen, University of Southampton

"As politics becomes increasingly polarised, Marie Paxton explains why agonistic principles - of critique, engagement and inclusion - have never been more important. Combining sophisticated theoretical analysis with experimental research, the book puts forward recommendations for how agonistic principles can be put into practice in national and local institutions, schools, media and popular culture. Marie Paxton has pushed the boundaries of agonistic thinking by taking on the practical challenges and opportunities presented by agonism. This is a timely and highly original volume, with international reach." - Professor Vivien Lowndes, School of Government, University of Birmingham, UK

"Marie Paxton delivers an incisive critical survey of agonistic democracy, as well as breaking new ground with her thoughtful response to the 'institutional deficit' characteristic of agonistic theory. Paxton delineates the balance between innovation and institutional ordering, understood as constitutive of democratic politics, and through her discussion we come to understand the proximity between agonistic theory and the 'new institutionalism'. Highlights include the account of a 'contestation day', presented as an alternative to the 'deliberation day', as well as the novel use of experimental design to add empirical weight to the main theoretical claims of the book. Altogether, this work represents an important and imaginative intervention in this growing field of contemporary democratic theory." - Mark Wenman, Senior Lecturer in Political Theory, University of Birmingham