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The Pharmakon of Democracy: General Will and the People in the Context of the Greek Referendum

Kivotidis, Dimitrios

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Abstract

© The Author(s) 2017. This article examines the role of the Greek referendum of 2015 in the context of the Greek socio-economic and political crisis. The analysis of the mediating role of referendum in the process of class struggle leads to a more general argument relating to fundamental concepts of public law, namely, ‘general will’ and the ‘people’. Central to the analysis is the question of whether referendums are a remedy for the problems facing the institutions of representative democracy. By analysing the process of the Greek referendum, with a focus on the formulation of the question and the interpretation of the verdict of the Greek people by the executive power, a more general argument is constructed regarding the mediating role of the referendum in a crisis and the legitimating role of such concepts in a class-divided society. In a context of rising inequality and furthering distantiation of the popular strata from decision-making processes, the referendum is shown, on the one hand, as a remedy for the failings of representative institutions on behalf of capital and necessary for the reproduction of capitalist relations. On the other hand, on the background of a discussion of the relation between democracy and capitalism, it is argued that the referendum acts as a different kind of poison for the people themselves and the struggle of the popular classes.

Citation

Kivotidis, D. (2018). The Pharmakon of Democracy: General Will and the People in the Context of the Greek Referendum. Social and Legal Studies, 27(6), 755-775. https://doi.org/10.1177/0964663917731615

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Aug 23, 2017
Online Publication Date Sep 21, 2017
Publication Date Dec 1, 2018
Deposit Date Aug 24, 2017
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Social and Legal Studies
Print ISSN 0964-6639
Electronic ISSN 1461-7390
Publisher SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 27
Issue 6
Pages 755-775
DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/0964663917731615
Keywords referendum, Greek Referendum, general will, people, Marxism, Pharmakon, Katechon
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/882810
Publisher URL https://doi.org/10.1177/0964663917731615
Additional Information Additional Information : © 2018. Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications

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