THE EVERYDAY EXPERIENCE OF POLITICS: FEAR, DOCILITY, AND LIBERAL CITIZENSHIP.

This paper attempts to go beyond the crude fear-based proto-liberalism of Thomas Hobbes and Judith Shklar’s more sophisticated liberalism of fear, by exploring the myriad of ways in which feelings of fear and anxiety shape the everyday experience of politics in democracies. I analyze four major types of political fear that plague members of democratic societies. These include (1) fears of political oppression and coercion, (2) fear of random acts of terror and violence, (3) the politicization of pre-existing social and economic fears, and (4) fears that occur naturally in certain kinds of political situations and with respect to certain kinds of political activity (e.g., fear of exposing one’s ignorance, fear of public dissent, etc.). The paper concludes that while extraordinary acts of political oppression and terror can have an extraordinary impact on political life, the fears associated with the everyday experience of politics by citizens of democratic states can also be quite an adventure. Specifically, habitual submission to these fears can diminish the extent and character of political involvement, making citizens more susceptible to two kinds of political docility, namely political apathy and conformist membership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]