What Is To Be Done? E-Book

Alain Badiou

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 216

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

The fall of the Berlin wall was seen by many as the final triumph of liberal democracy over communism. But now, in the wake of the great financial crisis of 2008 and its aftermath, things look a little different. New questions are arising about capitalism and democracy, new social movements are challenging established institutions and new political possibilities are emerging. Is democracy an inevitable hostage of capitalism, or can it reinvent itself to meet the challenge of globalization? In an exclusive, previously unpublished dialogue, Alain Badiou, a key figure of the radical left and a leading advocate of the communist idea, and Marcel Gauchet, a major exponent of anti-totalitarianism and a champion of liberal democracy, confront one another. Together, they take stock of history, interrogate one another s views and defend their respective projects: on the one side, the revival of the communist hypothesis, and on the other, the radical reform of a contested democratic model.

Leseprobe

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Foreword: The future of an alternative, MartinDuru and Martin Legros

1 The encounter with communism

2 From Marx to Lenin

3 Totalitarianism

4 The return of the communist hypothesis?

5 What is the meaning of the crisis?

6 The end of imperial logic, or the continuation?

7 The deconstruction of capitalism

8 Why we’re not finished with politics

Conclusion: In search of a lost deal?

Appendix: Alain Badiou’s diagram of the contemporary structure of the world

Index

End User License Agreement

Guide

Cover

Contents

Begin Reading

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What Is To Be Done?

A Dialogue on Communism, Capitalism, and the Future of Democracy

Alain Badiou and Marcel Gauchet

Moderated by Martin Duru and Martin Legros

Translated by Susan Spitzer

polity

First published in French as Alain Badiou and Marcel Gauchet, Que faire? Dialogue sur le communisme, le capitalisme et l’avenir de la démocratie (c) Philo éditions, Paris, 2014

This English edition (c) Polity Press, 2016

Polity Press65 Bridge StreetCambridge CB2 1UR, UK

Polity Press350 Main StreetMalden, MA 02148, USA

All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-0174-8

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Badiou, Alain.[Que faire? English]What is to be done? : a dialogue on communism, capitalism, and the future ofdemocracy / Alain Badiou, Marcel Gauchet.pages cmIncludes bibliographical references and index.ISBN 978-0-7456-0170-0 (hardback : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-0-7456-0171-7(pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Communism. 2. Badiou, Alain--Interviews. 3. Gauchet,Marcel--Interviews. 4. Democracy. 5. Capitalism. 6. Political science--Philosophy.I. Gauchet, Marcel. II. Title.HX73.B6314 2015335.43--dc232015019876

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ForewordThe future of an alternative

Martin Duru and Martin Legros

[W]e are not children to be fed on the thin gruel of “economic” politics alone; we want to know everything that others know, we want to learn the details of all aspects of political life and to take part actively in every single political event. In order that we may do this, the intellectuals must talk to us less of what we already know and tell us more about what we do not yet know and what we can never learn from our factory and “economic” experience, namely, political knowledge. You intellectuals can acquire this knowledge, and it is your duty to bring it to us in a hundred- and a thousand-fold greater measure than you have done up to now; and you must bring it to us, not only in the form of discussions, pamphlets, and articles (which very often – pardon our frankness – are rather dull), but precisely in the form of vivid of what our government and our governing classes are doing at this very moment in all spheres of life. Devote more zeal to carrying out this duty.