United States of America: The land of threat and opportunity : A qualitative study of democratic autoimmunity in the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021

Abstract: The aim of this thesis is to address and problematize how an undemocratic event like the Capitol riot on January 6th, 2021 could occur in the United States, the nation that for so long has been perceived to be the world’s leading democracy. The thesis takes a point of departure in French philosopher Jaques Derrida’s theory of autoimmunity, which is a theory aiming to explain how democracies are at constant risk of developing autoimmune reactions within their institutions, causing them to undermine their own values and principles. Three theoretical areas were derived from the theory: Hospitality, Ipseity, and Democracy to come, and through an interpretive content analysis of the nine public committee hearings taking place after the riot, these areas could detect symptoms of democratic autoimmunity in the event. The findings of the research thus shed light on the autoimmune tendencies that exist within the very core of democracy, and that was brought to the forefront on January 6th, 2021. Further, the results point to the fact that because of these autoimmune tendencies, the democratic institutions in the United States are still - after this event - exposed to simultaneous threats and opportunities that can come to change the course of democracy in the nation.