Abstract

Andrew Fraser correctly points out that the contraposition of “Populism vs. the New Class” was prefigured in our Schmittian analysis of possible modes of European unification. Our analysis concluded by proposing a strong federalism predicated on European jurisprudence as a general model, with significant implications not only for the US but for all future forms of political organization. Contrary to predominant social democratic schemes turning citizens into clients and technocrats into a new ruling elite, we sought to vindicate the autonomy of that living dimension without which individuality and citizenship become impossible. In this project, however, the major political confrontation is no longer between labor and capital but between the New Class and the population it seeks to manage.