ABSTRACT
Most democratic discussion and negotiation is not and cannot be based on visions of a consensual, harmonious outcome. Conflicting differences between different groups’ conceptions of the ‘good’ are not negatives to be eliminated but rather diverse values to be recognised in decision processes. Referring to the struggle between the need for an outcome which acts in the name of the whole community and the particularism of interests, Laclau (1991, 1994) proposes that the struggle is not produced by democracy, but that it precedes democracy. Rather, it is exactly what makes democracy possible.
