Crises of ‘Fin-de-siècle’: Electoral Absolutism & Myth of Palingenetic Racist Determinism - CXXIV, MMXVI RL V. XI No IV

Crises of ‘Fin-de-siècle’:

Electoral Absolutism & Myth of Palingenetic Racist Determinism

Public Lecture, CXXIV, MMXVI RL V. XI No IV

Costantinos Berhutesfa Costantinos, PhD,

Professor of Public Policy, School of Graduate Studies,

College of Business & Economics, AAU,

Abstract

            Africa has experienced multiple coups and counter coups for various economic, political and social reasons, with one-party states dominating since independence via elections floated to gain ostensible legitimacy. Indeed, the nineties saw a small number that had already made successful transition from military-affiliated regimes to pluriform institutions and practices. However, the consolidation of democracy involves founding sustainable institutions and political rules that guarantee political participation and competition. So far, only a few have satisfied even the minimal conditions set by the two-turnover test. Hence, the research questions augur on how and by whom are politics framed and the boundaries of palingenetic élite minority vs. the majority disparities set. What effects have such avant-garde ideas and practices on indigenous communities and cultures? Do powerful minorities capture polities in the very act of ‘determining’ palingenetic politics or are they subsumed by their caucuses’ own exclusive nationalistic schemata?

           Palingenetic ethno-nationalism augurs on a noxious negation of freethinking and conserva­tism, its nationalist despotic goals warm up to highly regulated economic structures to transform so­cial rela­tions within a modern, self-determined culture. It portends a fin-de-siècle political aesthetic of quixotic symbolism, social conscription, a positive view of sadism, masculinity and charismatic leadership. In literature, the fin-de-siècle outlook was influenced by Darwin, Wagner, Le Bon and the philosophies of Nietzsche, Dostoyevsky and Bergson. 

           Social Darwinism, which gained widespread ac­ceptance among the fin-de-siècle, conceived humans in an unceasing struggle of the survival of the fittest. Such élitist dogmas undergird the import of Africa’s incessant incumbent victories. Where the influence of the palingenetic élite impends over political processes, it is seldom unblemished whether such victories constitute ex­ten­sion of incumbent’s mandate or voter acquiescence to inevitable dominance, making the weight of consecutive elections unavoidably gloomier than the defining founding electoral competitions of the post-Soviet era.

Key words: pluralism, electoral absolutism, palingenetic nationalism, determinism

See lecture here or https://www.academia.edu/30597287/Crises_of_Fin-de-si%C3%A8cle_Electoral_Absolutism_and_Myth_of_Palingenetic_Racist_Determinism_-CXXIV_MMXVI_RL_V._XI_No_IV