Taking the democratic subject seriously

摘要

This article has two objectives. The first is to examine the post-Marxist concept of the democratic subject, which I argue requires criticism and revision if it is to be coherently integrated into the post-Marxist theory of democracy itself. The second is to examine the national-democratic project as proposed by the ANC and its allies in terms of this conceptual analysis of the democratic subject. It is argued that a 'democratic turn' has occurred in the national democratic project, but that national democratic subjectivity is still caught up in a fantasy of absolute political truth and closure, which interrupts its democratic practice.