Theater and Democracy: An Interactive Approach between Theater Studies and Political Science

What is the relationship between democracy and theater? When asked this, we might not immediately think of anything beyond the connections shown in "performance politics" or "theater-style politics," and we might even want to counter by asking what the point of such a question even is.

In reality, however, democracy and theater are closely interrelated. This connection has been discussed in Western philosophy and political theory from ancient times to the modern era, as represented by the theories of Plato and Rousseau. Furthermore, recent research examines various characteristics of theatricality with the aim of developing egalitarian ideas suited to diverse modern societies, improving the aesthetic judgment of citizens in evaluating politics, and encouraging more active political engagement among the citizenry.

Consisting of essays by political scientists and theater scholars from Japan and abroad, this book builds on these historical and contemporary discussions to develop a discourse on theater and democracy, drawing on each contributor's field of expertise.

From the perspective of political science, the book discusses the relationship between deliberative democracy theory and theatricality, democratic politicians as actors, and the theatrical characteristics found in constructivist theories of representation and plebiscitary democracy.

In recent years, books on democracy have been published one after another, as if reflecting its current crisis. In this context, this book might appear to be a modest collection of essays. However, there are no known examples worldwide of political scientists and theater scholars engaging in regular dialogue and compiling the results into a book; this volume represents a first-of-its-kind endeavor. Precisely because democracy is said to be in crisis, perhaps reconsidering democracy and politics by looking not only at the "reality" of politics and society, but also at the world of possibilities hidden beside it, will provide unexpected insights. I hope this book serves as a catalyst for such thinking.

Theater and Democracy: An Interactive Approach between Theater Studies and Political Science

Eiichiro Hirata (Co-editor)

Sangensha

280 pages, 3,740 yen (tax included)