# Agonism

- [[pull]] [[political theory]] [[conflict]]
- [[push]] [[democracy]]

**Agonism** (from the Greek *agōn*, meaning "struggle") is a political theory that emphasizes the potentially positive aspects of certain forms of conflict. It accepts a permanent place for such conflict, but seeks to show how we can accept and channel this into positive outcomes.

## In the Agora
In the context of the [[Agora]], Agonism is the alternative to both:
1.  **Antagonism:** Conflict where opponents are enemies to be destroyed (the [[Moloch]] trap of polarization).
2.  **Harmonious Consensus:** The unrealistic expectation that we will all agree if we just talk enough (the Utopian trap).

## Conflict as a Feature
A healthy distributed system *needs* friction.
*   We need **[[Forking Truth]]**: The ability for you to define "Capitalism" differently than I do, without one of us having to be "wrong" or "deleted".
*   We need **[[Social Friction]]**: The ability to disagree passionately on a topic while agreeing on the rules of engagement (the [[Social Contract]]).

## Why we need it
Without Agonism, the Agora risks becoming a fragile [[Echo Chamber]]. We need to build systems that can hold the tension of opposing viewpoints without collapsing.

*See:* [[Chantal Mouffe]], [[Ernesto Laclau]].