Essential Contestants, Essential Contests

Abstract

Social scientists continue to invest a great deal of effort in constructing superior measures of democracy without arriving at any consensus. Reflections on this state of affairs frequently refer to an essay of more than a half-century ago in which the philosopher W. B. Gallie analyzed the characteristics of what he called “essentially contested concepts.” Gallie’s account of the properties of these concepts, however, is inadequate. It looks more promising to explore the contestants and the contests and especially the dynamic roles played by social movements in the history of democracy. Gallie’s focus on a debate among philosophers needs to be incorporated within a larger a larger field of social conflict.

Citation

Markoff, J. (2017), "Essential Contestants, Essential Contests", On the Cross Road of Polity, Political Elites and Mobilization (Research in Political Sociology, Vol. 24), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 121-154. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0895-993520160000024005