Political theology and democracy

Abstract

Modern political philosophy, from Machiavelli onwards, thought it had overcome the problem of political theology; however, it only remained hidden until it emerged again, with more force and power, which even calls into question contemporary liberal democracy. The aim of this text is to show the relationship between two concepts that are currently intertwined within the same political logic of negation and affirmation: political theology and democracy. Our thesis is that political theology and democracy are intertwined within the liberal paradigm (from a political rather than ethical point of view) and the neoliberal paradigm (from the point of view of the economic model), generating the dissolution of the latter and preparing the conditions for the return of totalitarianisms. From a philosophical point of view, following the reflections of Cacciari and Esposito, we need to think about the possibilities of a non-liberal democracy, not dependent on either a political theology or a political economy, which even accepts the possibility of a community that has never been ontologically realized.