Nacionalistas, populistas, feministas y las paradojas de la democracia

Among the media debates generated in the midst of a severe economic and political
crisis in Spain (2008-present), there are three ideological positions that have had a particularly prominent role: nationalism, populism, and feminism. In the last few years, in particular, these terms have been identified with an excess generated by democracy’s openness that must be controlled, if not eliminated, for the long-term benefit of democracy itself. By contrast, my analysis sustains that an open-ended critical reflection upon the nature and function of elements perceived as “excessive” is fundamental to democratic politics. I contend that it is precisely such dissonant remainders, such points of excess, that best illustrate the paradoxes of popular sovereignty: both its limits and its conditions of possibility