Democracy in What State? (New Directions in Critical Theory)

144 Pages·2010·2.82 MB·English

by  Giorgio Agamben

DEMOCRACY IN WHAT STATE?
NEW DIRECTIONS IN CRITICAL THEORY
AMY ALLEN, GENERAL EDITOR
NEW DIRECTIONS IN CRITICAL THEORY
Amy Allen, General Editor
New Directions in Critical Theory presents outstanding classic and contemporary texts
in the tradition of critical social theory, broadly construed The series aims to renew and
advance the program of critical social theory, with a particular focus on theorizing con
temporary struggles around gender, race, sexuality, class, and globalization and their com
plex interconnections
Narrating Evil. A Postmetaphysical Theory of Reflective Judgment, Maria Pia Lara
The Politics of Our Selves Power, Autonomy, and Gender in Contemporary Critical Theory, Amy Allen
Democracy and the Political Unconscious, Noelle McAfee
The Force of the Example. Explorations in the Paradigm of Judgment, Alessandro Ferrara
Horrorism. Naming Contemporary Violence, Adriana Cavarero
Scales of Justice. Reimagining Political Space in a Globalizing World, Nancy Fraser
Pathologies of Reason. On the Legacy of Critical Theory, Axel Honneth
States Without Nations. Citizenship for Mortals, Jacqueline Stevens
The Racial Discourses of Life Philosophy Negritude, Vitalism, and Modernity, Donna V Jones
DEMOCRACY
IN WHAT STATE?
Giorgio Agamben
Alain Badiou
Daniel Bensaid
Wendy Brown
Jean-Luc Nancy
Jacques Ranciere
Kristin Ross
Slavoj Zizek
Translationsfrom the French by William McCuaig
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS NEW YORK
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
Democratic dans quel exax> copyright © 2009 La Fabrique
English translation copyright © 2011 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in- Publication Data
Democratic, dans quel etat> English
Democracy in what state> / Giorgio Agamben [et al ] , translations from the
French by William McCuaig
p cm — (New directions in critical theory)
Includes bibliographical references
ISBN 978-0-231-15298-3 (cloth alk paper) —ISBN 978-0-231-52708-8 (e-book)
1 Democracy—Philosophy I Agamben, Giorgio, 1942-
II McCuaig, William, 1949- III Title IV Series
JC423 D46313 2010
321 8—dc22
2010023553
e
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper
This book was printed on paper with recycled content
Printed in the United States of America
c 10 987654321
References to Internet Web sites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing
Neither the author nor Columbia University Press is responsible for URLs that may have
expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared
CONTENTS
FOREWORD BY THE FRENCH PUBLISHER vii
TRANSLATOR'S NOTE ix
Introductory Note on the Concept of Democracy
GIORGIO AGAMBEN I
The Democratic Emblem
ALAIN BADIOU 6
Permanent Scandal
DANIEL BENSAID l6
"We Are All Democrats Now..."
WENDY BROWN 44
Finite and Infinite Democracy
JEAN-LUC NANCY 58
Democracies Against Democracy
JACQUES RANCIERE j6
Democracy for Sale
KRISTIN ROSS 82
From Democracy to Divine Violence
SLAVOJ ZIZEK IOO
NOTES 121
AUTHORS 129
v

FOREWORD BY THE FRENCH PUBLISHER
Contributors to a number of editions of La Revolution surrealiste in the
1920s were requested to find something new to say about topics on
which it seemed at the time that everything sayable had been said-
love, suicide, the devil's bargain, things like that. Nevertheless, by
casting intersecting beams, the answers they received from Artaud,
Crevel, de Naville, Ernst, and Bufiuel did succeed in throwing the
chosen topics into high relief. This quality of illumination can still
surprise us, close to a century later.
The present collection was conceived in homage to that model.
The question put to our contributors was this:
The word democracy appears to generate universal consensus these
days. Of course, debates, sometimes fierce debates, do take place
about its meaning or meanings. But in the "world" we inhabit, democ
racy is almost always accorded a positive valence. So we ask our con
tributors: is it meaningful, as far as you are concerned, to call oneself
Vll
a democrat > If not, why not? And if so, in line with what interpreta
tion of the word?
Some of the philosophers to whom this question was put were
already our collaborators. With others we were acquainted only
through writings of theirs, which suggested that their ideas about
democracy diverged from the mainstream consensus. The answers
you are about to read also diverge from, and sometimes contradict,
one another—something we foresaw and counted on. So this book
supplies no textbook definition of democracy, nor a user's manual
for democrats, and least of all a verdict pro or con. But it does attest
that the word democracy need not be scrapped just yet, because it still
functions as a pivot around which core controversies of politics and
political philosophy turn.
viii FOREWORD
TRANSLATOR'S NOTE
I assume responsibility for the English versions of the contribu
tions by Giorgio Agamben, Alain Badiou, Daniel Bensaid, Jean-Luc
Nancy, and Jacques Ranciere. The essays by Wendy Brown, Kristin
Ross, and Slavoj Zizek were originally composed in English.
Political thought and everyday language in the Anglophone world
sometimes ignore the analytical distinction between state and gov
ernment. The European languages conceptualize the former notion
more strongly and capitalize the word Q'Etat, lo Stato, elEstado, derStaai).
I deliberately follow this advantageous practice and write "the State"
in my translations.