Liberalism, in so far as it is formulated within a rationalistic and
individualistic framework, is bound to be blind to the existence of the
political and to delude itself with regard to the nature of politics.
Indeed, it eliminates from the outset the 'differentia specifica' of
politics, its handling of collective action and attempt to establish unity
in a field crisscrossed with antagonisms. Liberalism overlooks the fact
that it concerns the construction of collective identities and the creation
of a 'we' as opposed to a 'them'. Politics, as the attempt to domesticate
the political, to keep at bay the forces of destruction and to establish
order, always has to do with conflicts and antagonisms. It requires an
understanding that every consensus is, by necessity, based on acts of
exclusion and that there can never be a fully inclusive 'rational'
consensus.