Democracy after Extremist Attacks: The Consequences of Leaders’ Responses

• In Event: Media, Protest and Violence

Abstract

This paper focuses on violent extremist attacks, and the damage they inflict upon democracy in contemporary societies. It introduces the concepts of ‘democratic damage’ and ‘democratic resilience’ drawing on the theory of deliberative democracy, and examines the role of leaders in generating these through their responses. An in-depth study of leaders’ responses to seven violent extremist attacks across five democracies reveals three distinct approaches to the democratic damage caused by extremist attacks. Leaders can (i) exacerbate, (ii) contain, or (iii) counteract the democratic damage through their post-attack speeches and actions. Despite the shared goal of reaffirming community or restoring unity in the aftermath of extremist attacks, these approaches manifest in diverse forms and lead to different democratic consequences. The paper argues that to foster a genuinely democratic resilience, leaders should actively promote forms of complex solidarity that sustain both attention to a community’s internal differences and critical reflection informed by these differences within the public sphere.

Authors

• Selen A. Ercan, University of Canberra

• Jordan McSwiney, University of Canberra

• Emily Beausoleil, Victoria University of Wellington

• Andrea Felicetti, Scuola Normale Superiore