Political Incarnation as Living Archive
Abstract
I explore the profound anxiety that democratic theory has about political incarnation in a time of global populism. Putting pressure on liberal political norms, populist politics raises, once again, the “impossible” question of the incarnation of democratic sovereignty. Why is this question so very anxious? Why does it bring us back, again and again, to the supposedly regressive motifs of political theology and authoritarian charisma? I consider some alternatives in dialogue with a text by “L,” a participant in the Iranian “Women, Life, Freedom” uprising of 2022.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Political Theory and Democracy
Political Theology and Sovereignty
Populism
Right-Wing Movements
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Current Anthropology
- Volume
- 67
- Issue
- S28
- Pages
- S67–S75
- Publication date
- 4 February 2026
- Language
- EN