Michael Freeden’s View on Political Ideologies and Power: Do Ideologies Make Essentially Contested Concepts Decontested?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18485/Keywords:
ideologies, Michael Freeden, power, essentially contested concepts, decontested conceptsAbstract
This paper analyses Michael Freeden’s thesis that essentially contested concepts become decontested in the field of ideology. Freeden claims that ideologies are the bridge between determinacy and indeterminacy of concepts. He relates decontested concepts to determinacy by introducing the concept of power, arguing that power wielders can make concepts decontested. The first part of this paper analyses the relationship between ideologies and essentially contested concepts. In the second part, the author questions the conditions of the decontested concept of power. The author argues that even if ideologies could serve as decontesting fields, the concept of power cannot make other concepts decontested.
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