I was reading an essay by Marilynne Robinson this morning - of whose works I otherwise know nothing - when I came across this wonderful line:
Democracy , in its essence and genius, is imaginative love for and identification with a community with which, much of the time and in many ways, one may be in profound disagreement.
I thought that absolutely brilliant - and a summary of what is precisely under threat from the hegemony of neoliberalism.
The quote comes from page 28 of her collection of essays entitled 'When I Was a Child I Read Books'.
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Richard
Sorry, that may give you, & indeed Ms Robinson, a warm tingly feeling but it doesn’t work.
Communities are not the same as nation states & nation states, insofar as they are democratic, rely on that democracy remaining within their borders.
I wouldn’t particularly want Sharia law imposed on my bit of Birmingham even if it was, (as I suspect it would be) a massively popular policy for the “Umma” as a whole.
I think you miss the point
Why not read it again?
To me it`s largely summed up by the word tolerance – for the views of the majority,even if you find them unacceptable.
The problem implied by the previous comment,is should that tolerance extend to any hegemony – that under threat from the hegemony of neo-liberalism,or indeed the hegemony of theocracy rather than democracy.
Perhaps not strictly the correct definition of hegemony in either case.