5 Towards a Critical Theory of Democracy: The Frankfurt School and Democratic Theory

Abstract

In this chapter we build upon our discussion in the previous chapter and attempt to lay out what we believe are central elements of a critical theory of democracy.This raises the obvious question of what such a theory would entail: what elements of critical theory as we explored it in previous chapters; and what kind of democracy for which such elements could provide a solid basis.More specifically, we need to show how to connect (a) a theory that in its focus, structure, and concepts offers a critical diagnosis of the pathologies of the present from the standpoint of a possible future society that secures social freedom and solidarity, with (b) a conception of democracy that emphasizes not just present forms of democratic politics and government, nor even necessary institutional reform, but also the normative requirements of a democratic social order capable of fostering and sustaining an emancipated form of life.As we argued in our first chapter, this would be a radical, developmental democracy within which all individuals would have the equal right and ability to use and develop their distinctively human capacities.To explore the question of what a radical, developmental democracy would involve, we focus primarily once again on the claims and concepts of Jrgen Habermas, specifically as he developed these in Between Facts and Norms , which we discussed in chapter 1, and which represents his most systematic treatment of what he calls a discourse theory of democracy.But we also return to the ideas of the first generation of Frankfurt School critical theorists.We noted in previous chapters that these thinkers, most notably Max Horkheimer, did not systematically explore the idea of democracy, much less work up an explicit theory of it.In part this reflected their belief that liberalism and capitalism were, if not identical, certainly indissolubly linked.But as Albrecht Wellmer has recently reminded us "the very term critical theory was coined in a