Analyzing Antagonism in the Election of the Philippines Using Agonistic Democracy Paradigm

Abstract

Antagonism, in the language of agonistic democracy, refers to the conflict between opposing parties. These opposing parties do not recognize each other as legitimate voices. In the context of the election in the Philippines, the emergence of this kind of conflict is manifested during the opposing preferences will meet as they will express their political color. There are significant numbers of literature that discussed the nature of antagonistic conflict in the politics of the Philippines. For instance, patron-client describes the dyadic connection between patron and client through a personal relationship. However, this personal relationship is marked by conflict in personal interests. On the other hand, the moralization of politics has a nature of conflict based on two opposing sectors, the mass sphere, and the civil sphere. In which, the divide is determined by the socioeconomic status of the people. Although there are analyses that explain the possible reasons for these political conflicts, they fail to capture the nature of conflict during the election in the Philippines. The conflict will occur when people engage during the election and will be vocal about their preferred candidates. This article will try to explain the nature of conflict during elections using the Agonistic Democracy framework of Chantal Mouffe. Mouffe explains that there is a conflict between opposing parties because neither of the parties recognizes each other as legitimate or important. Rather the conflict is gapped by friend/enemy relation. Using the framework of Chantal Mouffe, this article will argue that the divide neglects the electoral process and undermines the essence of democracy that is manifested in elections. One of the ways to overcome this problem is to recognize the impossibility of eradicating the different preferences of the people in choosing a candidate

Keywords

• Agonistic
• Antagonism
• Divide
• Election
• Political Color

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