From Passion to Compassion: Democratizing Democratic Politics

The growing scholarship on the role of passion in politics challenges the conventional reason/emotion divide in Western political thought and sheds new light on the essential and even desirable part that passion plays in shaping political choices, forging political community, and motivating political action. For example, Michael Walzer compellingly argues that in politics, “interests” are not merely concerned with rational calculations or principles but also inseparable from passion in that the fundamental question in politics is “not about what decision to favor but about what group to join (or to stick with or to leave)” (2004, 128). That is, asking and answering the question “Which side are you on?” entails not only one’s reasons for judgments but also the emotions and relationships that ground one’s purposes. Along with the emerging studies of political psychology and feminist theorists’ endeavors to decenter rational deliberation that has been marginalizing the voices of gendered and racialized groups, the developing bodies of literature on passion and politics offer helpful resources to reframe our political inquiries in ways more in tune with political realities and open up possibilities to enhance the inclusion of marginalized voices in politics through political solidarity and allegiance. However, despite its breakthroughs in challenging the rational paradigms of liberal democratic theory, the current scholarship on passionate politics has not yet adequately grappled with the challenges surrounding impassioned conflicts. One particularly important question that arises is how to make sure that passionate partisan politics work towards remedying rather than reinforcing injustices. In response to these challenges, I argue that transforming passion into compassion in political communication and contestation can help deepen understanding across differences and empower the disadvantaged. By engaging with Zen Buddhist philosophy and practice, particularly Thich Nhat Hanh’s notion of non-duality or “interbeing,” I propose to reconceptualize compassion as “caring for and with others mindfully.” This reconceptualization of compassion does not require one to become a Buddhist, instead, the engagement with Zen Buddhist ethics of compassion is to draw inspiration from the daily practice of mindfulness to understand compassion not as a “passion” but as a “practice.” More specifically, the practice of compassion informed by Thich Nhat Hanh’s “interbeing” entails transforming our habitual, dualistic ways of thinking, feeling, and acting which tend to distinguish between self/other, friends/enemies, and us/them. This paper joins the endeavors of Comparative Political Theory to decolonize political theory by drawing from marginalized, “non-Western” traditions of thought to rethink common political challenges. It seeks to invite cross-cultural dialogues about the prospects of compassion for deepening democracy and to carry practical implications for remedying polarization, extremism, and cleavages in contemporary democratic politics.