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

Kivotidis, Dimitrios

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.

• 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: Aug 24, 2017
• 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
• Contract Date: Aug 24, 2017