Cross-Case Comparison: Scenarios and Circumstances of Radical Democratic Politics

Abstract

The comparative analytical work needed to establish general circumstances across the cases is conducted in this chapter. Through comparison, it is demonstrated that the possibilities for radical democratic activity to either continue within an agonistic framework or devolve into forms of antagonism fall into eight general scenarios—four of agonism (protest, occupation, containment, stalemate) and four of antagonism (crackdown, civil war, insurrection, takeover). After establishing these scenarios through the comparison of the cases’ similar political occurrences as well as their associated patterns of interests, capacities, and mechanisms, there is an effort to synthesize these findings and present three fundamental circumstances for radical democratic contests to maintain an agonistic form.