Lefort's Conception of Democracy: A Dialogue with Machiavelli

Ovaj rad nastoji prikazati glavne ideje političke teorije Claudea Leforta s ciljem utvrđivanja veze između njegova tumačenja Machiavellija i njegova promišljanja demokracije i totalitarizma. Kako bi se to postiglo, prvo se razmatraju Lefortova specifična metodologija tumačenja klasičnih tekstova i njegova razmišljanja o makijavelizmu. Zatim se fokus rada premješta na Lefortovo tumačenje Machiavellijevih djela Vladar i Rasprave o prvoj dekadi Tita Livija. Naposljetku, razmatra se Lefortovo poimanje demokracije koje je neraskidivo povezano s tematikom totalitarizma. Lefortovo tumačenje otkriva Machiavellija kao teoretičara klasnog sukoba koji, u srazu puka i velikaša, zauzima stranu puka. Budući da je klasni sukob nerazrješiv, Machiavelli poziva na njegovu regulaciju te na otvorenost političke zajednice prema događaju, odnosno prema kontingenciji. Machiavellijeva se teorija tako pokazuje srodnom s Lefortovim poimanjem demokracije kao poretka koji priznaje sukob te razdvaja vlast, znanje i pravo. Totalitarizam se pojavljuje kao kontrarevolucija koja nastoji dokinuti demokratsku neodređenost. Lefort nastupa protiv totalitarnog negiranja sukoba, kao što je Machiavelli kritizirao negiranje klasnog sukoba svojstveno Sparti i Mletačkoj Republici.This paper aims to present the main ideas of Claude Lefort's political theory with the goal of determining the relationship between his interpretation of Machiavelli and his reflection on democracy and totalitarianism. In order to achieve this, Lefort's specific methodology for interpreting classical texts and his reflections on Machiavellianism are firstly considered. After that, the focus of the paper moves towards Lefort's interpretation of Machiavelli's works The Prince and Discourses on Livy. Lastly, Lefort's conception of democracy, which is inextricably linked with the theme of totalitarianism, is considered. Lefort's interpretation reveals Machiavelli as a theorist of class conflict who, in the clash of the people and the grandees, takes the side of the people. Given that class conflict is insolvable, Machiavelli calls for its regulation and openness of the political community towards the event, that is towards contingency. Machiavelli's theory is thus shown to be similar to Lefort's conception of democracy as a regime which recognizes conflict and separates power, knowledge and law. Totalitarianism appears as a counter-revolution which aims to abolish democratic indeterminacy. Lefort opposes totalitarian negation of conflict as Machiavelli criticized the negation of class conflict characteristic of Sparta and the Republic of Venice