Naslov
Can European Democracy Be Saved from Celebrity Politics?

Autori
Beroš, Marin

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, neobjavljeni rad, znanstveni

Skup
Politics, the Rule of Law and the Facets of Democracy

Mjesto i datum
Atena, Grčka, 05.11.2019. - 07.11.2019

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Radionica

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
European democracy, honor, celebrity politics

Sažetak
In contemporary Europe, the political climate is changing. There is an increasing concern that a growing number of countries are governed by populist leaders and parties, more interested in captivating the public and securing their position of power, than in the actual “hard job” of governing and representing the will of the people. Nevertheless, demagogues are nothing new in the history of democracies and they are certainly not specific to the European continent. The novelty of our times is that their target audience, with the proliferation of new media such as the Internet, has expanded to cover the whole globe. A new breed of politicians is thus competing in the grim celebrity arena - along with actors, musicians and sport idols - constantly tweeting to attract followers. However, when democratic leaders are more interested in their media perception then in governing, the credibility of the whole state apparatus is gradually undermined consequently hindering the rule of law. Is there a way to escape the pitfall of modern day “celebrity politics” after all? This paper proposes an alternative by reintroducing the concept of honor in politics. Although honor is considered obsolete in the modern Western society, since it appears more appropriate for bygone times or different cultures, the concept should not be dismissed completely. Considered as our social standing in the eyes of other people, honor still elicits positive connotations, something every individual should aspire to, but probably not at every cost. Therefore, honor did not vanish from our society with some sort of a big bang, rather the concept’s meaning and its content changed incrementally. Nevertheless, in the context of contemporary politics, it seems that honor is nowhere to be found. As contemporary representative democracy gets increasingly scrutinized, among other limitations because of its perceived “gap” between the public and their representatives, is it possible to reintroduce the idea of honor into modern day politics or is that chance irretrievably lost? To this end, the paper examines the role of honor in politics from ancient times to the modern era attempting to give suggestions how this idea (or at least parts of it) can be used to save European democracy in our trying globalized times.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Politologija, Filozofija, Povijest

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