Beschreibung
This investigation proposes a reflexive,
discourse-analytical approach for understanding
“democracy” as an object of EU/European governance.
Drawing on Michel Foucault, it contrasts regularities and
exclusions that delineate the reasonably speakable about
democracy within present formations of social science knowledge
production and historical orders of speech in classical 19th
century liberalism. In doing so, the study points to the
specificity and instability of dominant contemporary
perceptions of “democracy” as a stable European norm,
subverts their present sense of naturalness and underlines
their intimate relation with power.
Laura Pantzerhielm is a Research Fellow at the
Berlin Social Science Center (WZB).
