Martin Breaugh

Thinking Radical Democracy: The Return to Politics in Post-War France Martin Breaugh

Commendation Quotes:"Thinking Radical Democracy is a serious contribution to the literature on theories of radical democracy. I learned something new from every chapter." - Lasse Thomassen, School of Politics and International Relations, Queen Mary, University of LondonCommendation Quotes:"Pushing the renewed interest in post-war French political thought in new and exciting directions, this collection makes the case that there is an understudied radical current of democratic thinking in post-war French thought. Thinking Radical Democracy does an immense service to Anglophone political thought by starting a conversation on the political theory of these thinkers." - Jimmy Casas Klausen, Instituto de Relacoes Internacionais, Pontif?cia Universidade Catolica do Rio de JaneiroTable of Contents: Introduction: Radical Democracy and 20th Century French ThoughtPart I - The Forebearers of the Return of Radical Democracy1 - Hannah Arendt: Plurality, Publicity, Performativity (Christopher Holman)2 - Politics A L'Ecart Merleau-Ponty and the Flesh of the Social (Paul Mazzocchi)3 - The Counter-Hobbes of Pierre Clastres (Miguel Abensour) Part II - The Critique of Totalitarianism and the Emergence of Radical Democratic Thought 4 - Claude Lefort: Democracy as the Empty Place of Power (Carlo Invernizzi Accetti)5 - Cornelius Castoriadis. Auto-Institution and Radical Democracy (Brian C. J. Singer)6 - Guy Debord and the Politics of Play (Devin Penner) Part III - New Directions and Possibilities in Radical Democratic Thought 7 - A Politics in Writing: Jacques RanciEre and the Equality of Intelligences (Rachel Magnusson)8 - Democracy and Its Conditions: Etienne Balibar and the Contribution of Marxism to Radical Democracy (James D. Ingram)9 - From a Critique of Totalitarian Domination to the Utopia of Insurgent Democracy: On the "Political Philosophy" of Miguel Abensour (Martin Breaugh) Publisher Marketing: Thinking Radical Democracy is an introduction to nine key political thinkers who contributed to the emergence of radical democratic thought in post-war French political theory: Hannah Arendt, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Pierre Clastres, Claude Lefort, Cornelius Castoriadis, Guy Debord, Jacques RanciEre, Etienne Balibar, and Miguel Abensour. The essays in this collection connect these writers through their shared contribution to the idea that division and difference in politics can be perceived as productive, creative, and fundamentally democratic. The questions they raise regarding equality and emancipation in a democratic society will be of interest to those studying social and political thought or democratic activist movements like the Occupy movements and Idle No More.

Contributor Bio:  Breaugh, Martin Martin Breaugh is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at York University. Contributor Bio:  Holman, Christopher Christopher Holman is an assistant professor in the Public Policy and Global Affairs program at Nanyang Technological University. Contributor Bio:  Mazzocchi, Paul Paul Mazzocchi is an instructor and doctoral candidate in the Department of Political Science at York University. Contributor Bio:  Penner, Devin Devin Penner is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Studies at Trent University. Contributor Bio:  Magnusson, Rachel Rachel Magnusson is the director of the Vancouver office of MASS LBP and teaches at the School of Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria.