Sorensen, L orcid.org/0000-0002-3995-2055 (2020) Disrupting democracy: Democratization conflicts as performative struggles. Media, War & Conflict, 13 (1). pp. 8-26. ISSN 1750-6352
Abstract
This article looks at disruptive political performance in the context of democratic transition. Disruptions take ownership of and re-present the past to evaluate and contest established forms of power in the post-transitional present. They thereby potentially engender conflict that can redirect the future path to consolidation. An illustrative case is the radical opposition party Economic Freedom Fighters’ (EFF’s) disruption of the South African State of the Nation Address in 2015, which descended into violence. The author adopts a mixed-methods approach that prioritizes interpretive analysis and thick description. An analysis of videos of the disruptive performance in parliament is complemented by investigation of its media coverage and the real-time public reaction on Twitter. She finds that the form of the performance engenders conflict; but performance is also its subject, for it seeks to expose the vacuum of democratic substance behind the regime’s masquerade of power. While the disruptive performance therefore serves an important accountability function, it simultaneously sets a problematic course for future democratic transition as it performs this function through moral essentialism. The South African case presents a particular type of disruption with specific functions and democratic implications. But it also demonstrates that a concern with the formal aspects of performance in general is a fruitful lens for considering the relation between observable form in processes of meaning-making, its political functions and the democratic change it can effect.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2019. This is an author produced version of an article, published in Media, War & Conflict. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | democratization, disruption, political communication, political performance, South Africa |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (Leeds) > School of Media & Communication (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Performance, Visual Arts and Communications (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 28 Jun 2021 12:23 |
Last Modified: | 29 Jun 2021 15:16 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | SAGE Publications |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/1750635219870225 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:175618 |