Political Action and Institutional Tension in Hannah Arendt: between the ordinary and the extraordinary

Abstract

A striking feature in Hannah Arendt's thought is the search to reconcile the extraordinary character of the power of action, initiator of ruptures and new processes, with the stability of a Constitution, written based on a revolutionary process with a view to freedom. Faced with this movement, from action to stability, the author is interpreted in various ways and receives different conceptual labels. Taking this into account, this article aims to reflect on the possible tensions raised by this double dimension of power, constituent power and constituted power, to characterize how they become compatible in Arendtian thought, as well as to demonstrate how this tension manifests itself, especially, in civil disobedience, provoking different interpretations, according to which authors would be linked to a liberal matrix of thought and replacing the need to define the concepts of action, constitution and law, to verify how they relate to each other and what type of institutionality and movement emerge in public life from them.