Keynote Lecture: 'Prefigurative Democracy' by Mathijs van de Sande

In the wake of protest movements such as Occupy Wall Street and the Spanish 15-M movement, the past decade has seen an increased interest in prefigurative politics: the attempt of activists to already realise or embody their ideal of a future society within their own organisational structures or political practices. In this lecture, Mathijs van de Sande discusses 'prefigurative democracy' based on his book Prefigurative Democracy: Protest, Social Movements and the Political Institution of Society. Van de Sande seeks to reconstruct the history of prefiguration as an idea and concept, focusing on its place and meaning in anarchist practices and discourses. Van de Sande also explains why this anarchist idea of prefiguration may fall short in explaining the democratic relevance of protest movements today. For instance, whereas the traditional concept of prefiguration is often considered to eschew any form of political representation, we may need to better understand how movements such as Occupy Wall Street and their prefigurative practices precisely fulfilled an important representative role. Building on the work of various radical-democratic theorists — primarily Hannah Arendt and Ernesto Laclau — Van de Sande argues that a more radical-democratic conception of prefigurative politics is needed to understand the radical potential and representative role of protest and social movements. Engaging with these radical-democratic sources also offers various accounts of how prefigurative practices and movements may continue to have political relevance long after they have ended.