Democracy and Defiance: Rancière, Lefort, Abensour and the Antinomies of Politics

Bryan Nelson

Published by Edinburgh University Press 2024

Democracy and Defiance

Rancière, Lefort, Abensour and the Antinomies of Politics

Bryan Nelson

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781474477246

Overview
Contents

About this book

Puts forward a bold, polemical interpretation of democracy as an emancipatory political project through the work of Jacques Rancière, Claude Lefort and Miguel Abensour

For the first time in a single volume, this book carefully assembles, introduces and critically evaluates some of the most important strains of the political thought of Jacques Rancière, Claude Lefort and Miguel Abensour specifically tailored for the English reader and student of social and political theory
Through a series of detailed exegetical studies of important primary sources, this book cultivates a bold, polemical interpretation of democracy as an emancipatory political project irreducible to a form of government, collection of institutions or State-form
Situating its analysis in the context of the history of political philosophy and integrating a breadth of recent scholarship, this book contributes to a range of fiercely debated topics in the current academic literature on democracy and political theory (including domination and emancipation; democratisation and social transformation; anarchy, indeterminacy and social contingency; the identity of the demos or political subject; the nature and function of political philosophy; the symbolic constitution of society; rule, government and governmentality; the State and its forms; the continuity between ancient and modern democracy)

This book explores an often neglected current in contemporary French political thought that challenges the limits of the concept of democracy. It situates the projects of Jacques Rancière, Claude Lefort and Miguel Abensour in relation to each other, as well as to the larger philosophical question of the nature of democracy itself. In doing so, Bryan Nelson illuminates democracy’s potential as a profound emancipatory and transformative project, offering an unprecedented challenge to modes of domination, strategies of inequality and hierarchies of all kinds. Against prevailing interpretations, the author draws on the central concepts, problems and polemics in the works of Rancière, Lefort and Abensour to develop a bold conception of democracy that allows us to rethink its character, power and broader social and political.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	viii
Introduction: The Antinomies of Politics Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. Towards Democracy’s Anarchic Condition
Democracy as Critique Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	19
Plato Discovers the Political: Rancière’s Reading of the Allegory of the Ship Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	22
Philosophy’s Sovereignty over Politics: Abensour’s Reading of the Allegory of the Cave Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	29
The Polemics of the Polis: The Greek Invention of Politics Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	33
Democracy’s Anarchic Condition: A New Political Ontology Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	38
Making Politics Thinkable Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	39
2. Dissolution of the Archê
In the Name of Democracy: The Kratos of the Demos Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	45
On the Universality of the Problem of the Archê Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	48
The Nature of Rule: An Interpretation of Plato’s Laws Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	50
Commandment and Commencement: The Strange Logic of the Archê Principle Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	54
In Summary: Archic Government Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	59
Enter Democracy: What Does It Mean to be against the Archê? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	60
Understanding Democracy’s ‘Anarchic Title’ Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	61
Democracy as ‘Political’ or ‘Anarchic’ Government Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	66
Anarchy: The Infinite Opening Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	70
3. To Think Democracy Otherwise: Claude Lefort and Savage Democracy
On the Status of Political Philosophy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	77
Pierre Clastres and the Logic of Being-Against Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	81
The Essence of Democracy: A Question of Interpretation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	84
Democratic Revolution: Tocqueville and Lefort Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	90
The ‘Principle of Anarchy’ and the Emancipatory Act of Politics Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	96
Permanent Contestation: Savage Democracy and Human Rights Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	99
Thinking Democracy Savage: A Philosophical Exercise Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	103
4. Democratisation of the Sensible: Democracy against the Police
On the Many Forms of Being-Against Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	114
Politics and the Police: A Radical Dichotomy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	117
Foucault, the Police and Governmentality Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	119
The Government of the Sensible and the Symbolic Constitution of Society: Rancière’s Concept of the Police Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	124
‘Logical Revolt’: Towards a Theory of the Political Subject Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	130
On Political Names Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	136
The ‘History’ or ‘Tradition’ of Emancipation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	140
5. The Politics of Emancipation: Democracy against the State
Social Domination and Political Emancipation: An Introduction to Abensour’s General Approach to Democracy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	149
From the Frankfurt School to Lefort and Machiavelli: Abensour’s Critical Political Philosophy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	152
Utopia and Democracy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	156
Against the State: Clastres contra Hobbes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	160
Marx’s ‘Machiavellian Moment’: Hegel, Sovereignty and Political Alienation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	164
‘True’ Democracy and the Reduction of the State Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	172
Insurgent Democracy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	179
In Summary: Rancière’s Democracy against the Police and Abensour’s Democracy against the State Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	183
Conclusion: ‘Hic et nunc’ – the Use of Philosophy and the Critique of the Present Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	194
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	207
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	219

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 240
Keywords: Politics

eBook

Published: April 24, 2024
ISBN: 9781474477246