Questions regarding the role and value of social conflict in democracy are nothing new. The following contributions examine the democratic potential of agonism, either directly or through a broader approach that engages longstanding questions in the field – revealing its complexity.

But prior to the full appropriation of this principle by the psychology, early modern thinkers and philosophers have argued and hesitated about the nature of this phenomenon and its correct explanation. The papers edited here intend to study different kinds of problems that arise when one tries to define and give an account of this connection.