Political anthropology and social order

In this article the author discusses the role of democracy in the post-global context. By “post-global” he intends that the grands récits (systems of thought and ideologies) which according to Lyotard were doomed to disappear in the post-modern era are still present and active but that they are not obvious anymore: they work underground within the processes of economic, social, political production. The author proceeds by examining the three principles on which societies order themselves: the sharing and establishment of blood ties – or time ties –, the sharing and establishment of space ties – or territorial ties – and, finally, the sharing of common action such as planning actions for the future. The author argues that democracy is the only form of political organization which is able to guarantee the possibility to these three principles of ordering the world to co-exist in such a way that none of the three principles can survive or prosper at the expense of the other two. But today this balance is threatened by a new element which sprouts from the third principle – the sharing of common action – in this case, the order of the market: a new transnational order which is also juridical, the order produced by the relations between economic actors becomes juridical. The State, intended here as expression of the territorial principle of organization of a society, is contractually week in this new context which the author calls the post-global context, and transnational holdings easily colonize the Lebenswelt. According to the author, it is not possible to practice democracy, to have strength as territorial unit, without the public and visible discussion of other ties, which are not territorial. The practice of assembly dialogue is therefore essential. He further states that democracy is a tension and not a guaranteed condition or state that one can keep to oneself.