Inclusion of Democratic Blind-Spots

The modern democratic state has a logic according to which it organises itself. Usually,this logic refers to the existence of a unified source of political authority within a certain territory; having a monopoly of coercive power and enjoying political legitimacy (see Dunleavy and Dryzek 2009, Held 1995). However, there exist groups whose members do not fit this logic. These groups and their members exist in, what I call, democratic blind-spots. They are blind-spots because people occupying these positions should be included in a democratic state, but they are not. Democratic blind spots constitute a new logic of privilege that divides the populations into those who fit the logic of the state and who don’t. This paper proceeds as follows. I first introduce the logic of the democratic state and point out groups that do not fit this logic. Here I zoom into the situation of the inhabitants of the informal slums, homeless, temporary workers or asylum seekers. Inhabitants of the informal settlements, asylum seekers, are not classified by the official authorities and exist in the grey sphere of strategic de-regulation (Yiftachel 2009). Homeless and temporary workers remain invisible to the state often by lack of permanent residence or residence in other state or administrative unit (Wu et al. 2014, Tonkiss 2017). Then, I argue for the new notion of the privilege that relies on fitting the logic of the state. It is a privilege because it enables gaining other resources, like wealth or political influence. It further divides the populations of democratic states into two – those who have access to all the resources and can be held the state accountable and those who do not have such opportunities. I further argue for the special need for the inclusion of members of democratic blind spots. As a result, this paper core argument relies on the introduction of a concept of democratic blind-spots and the necessity of their democratic inclusion.