Three Frames of Modern Politics

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-vii

   PDF

2. Introduction: Self, Others, and Institutions

   • Daniel J. McCool

   Pages 1-17

3. The Politics of Authenticity

   • Daniel J. McCool

   Pages 19-45

4. The Politics of Theatricality

   • Daniel J. McCool

   Pages 47-77

5. Henry David Thoreau’s Conscientious Performance

   • Daniel J. McCool

   Pages 79-99

6. Institutional Politics

   • Daniel J. McCool

   Pages 101-127

7. How the Right Co-opted Anti-institutionalism

   • Daniel J. McCool

   Pages 129-153

8. Conclusion: Our Crisis of Authenticity

   • Daniel J. McCool

   Pages 155-177

This book examines the centrality of personality in political discourse since the Enlightenment. It considers the theory known as the “politics of authenticity,” its counter-discourses, and the ways in which it has degraded or enriched our collective political life. Using three models of politics to understand our current political predicaments—the politics of authenticity, politics of theatricality, and institutional politics—this volume argues that we need to envision a politics based on the best parts of each model: one that incorporates the ability for the oppressed to speak outside the institutional mechanisms of government. With the continuing erosion of public faith in political institutions, we have instead been left with the most troubling aspects of both authentic and theatrical politics. By exploring recent events and trends in American politics, this book ultimately makes a normative case that we need to balance demands for authenticity in our political actors with the equally necessary political values of deliberative institutions, processes, and decorum.

• Arendt
• Thoreau
• politics of authenticity
• Lincoln
• Rousseau
• Authenticity
• Politics of Theatricality
• John Adams
• Foucault
• William James
• Erving Goffman
• Machiavelli
• Edmund Burke
• Nietzsche
• George Kateb
• Walt Whitman

“At a time when our democracy seems paralyzed with feelings of disillusionment and helplessness, Dr. McCool draws upon an impressively wide range of political thinkers to help us understand the complex tension between authenticity and theatricality in politics. His analysis reminds one of the skill of an expert physician diagnosing a patient’s illness and prescribing the cure for our ailing body politic:  the importance of institutional politics and the need to strike a new balance between institutionalism and authenticity.  This is a book that should be read by every person concerned about the future of democracy in America.” (David Smailes, Associate Professor, Political Science, Framingham State University, USA)

“McCool's timely interrogation of political personality and authenticity gives his readers a fresh viewpoint on a critical component of democracy that can be either its greatest asset or its premature undoing. In a moment when political personality has come to dominate and threaten American democracy, his argument reveals a way forward.” (Joanna Tice Jen, Political Science Faculty, Las Positas College, USA)

• Framingham State University, Framingham, MA, USA

  Daniel J. McCool

Daniel J. McCool is a Visiting Lecturer at Framingham State University, USA. 

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