![Cover for: The affects of democracy](https://www.eurozine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/980162d08550e1ccef89b13a1d165c7a.jpg)
The absence in liberal democracies of an agonistic confrontation between different political projects has led to a crisis of representation, argues Chantal Mouffe. Demonization of the ‘enemies’ of the bipartisan consensus might be morally comforting, but it is politically disempowering. We need a progressive populism that can mobilize common affects towards a defence of equality and social justice.