The Unruly Heart of Freedom
Democracy is always a risky business, full of promise and danger. The promise is the freedom to rule ourselves. The danger is fear: fear of the unknown, fear of the unruly, fear of anarchy. Fear leads to authoritarianism. As a result, liberals and conservatives embrace rules and regulations. We have been taught to see the people as a problem to be managed.
But ultimately it is daily ethics of ordinary citizens, who struggle to rule themselves, that captures the meaning of democracy. Virtues like courage, self-reliance and solidarity make it thrive. And they grow in the wild.
What if anarchy is the nursery of democracy?
The distinguished political theorist Anne Norton explores these questions in conversation with Sanjay Ruparelia.
About the speaker:
Anne Norton is the inaugural Stacey and Henry Jackson President’s Distinguished Professor in Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania. A scholar of political theory, Professor Norton's groundbreaking work explores the intersections of democracy, power, and political identity. She is Co-Founding Editor of the journal Theory and Event and on the executive board of the journal Political Theory. Professor Norton also serves on the board of the Bridge Initiative of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University. She taught at Notre Dame, Princeton, and the University of Texas before coming to Penn in 1993. Her books include Leo Strauss and the Politics of American Empire (Yale University Press, 2004); 95 Theses on Politics, Culture, and Method (Yale University Press, 2003); Republic of Signs: Liberal Theory and American Popular Culture (University of Chicago Press, 1993); Reflections on Political Identity (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988); and Alternative Americas: A Reading of Antebellum Political Culture (University of Chicago Press, 1986). Her latest book is Wild Democracy: Anarchy, Courage and Ruling the Law (Oxford University Press, 2023).
About the discussant:
Sanjay Ruparelia is the inaugural Jarislowsky Democracy Chair, and an associate professor of politics, at Toronto Metropolitan University. He is the author of Divided We Govern: Coalition Politics in Modern India, editor of The Indian Ideology: Three Responses to Perry Anderson, and co-editor of Understanding India's New Political Economy: A Great Transformation? Sanjay regularly contributes op-eds and commentary in various media, including the CBC, Dissent, Global Policy, Hindustan Times, Indian Express, New York Times, Open Canada, Policy Options, Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star. He is currently a co-chair of Participedia, an international network that studies democractic innovations, a visiting fellow at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University, USA, and a senior fellow of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. Connect with him on Twitter @SVRuparelia and through his website: https://www.jarislowskydemocracychair.ca/.
