LEADER 04303nam 22006371 450 001 9910780948503321 005 20140603104241.0 010 $a1-4411-6274-7 010 $a1-5013-0131-4 010 $a1-282-59067-7 010 $a9786612590672 010 $a1-4411-4935-X 024 7 $a10.5040/9781501301315 035 $a(CKB)2520000000008163 035 $a(EBL)495362 035 $a(OCoLC)642475399 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000334473 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11241562 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000334473 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10260353 035 $a(PQKB)10813939 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC495362 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL495362 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10372198 035 $a(CaONFJC)MIL259067 035 $a(OCoLC)893334867 035 $a(UtOrBLW)bpp09258124 035 $a(EXLCZ)992520000000008163 100 $a20150227d2010 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurcn||||||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aAgainst the personification of democracy $ea Lacanian critique of political subjectivity /$fby Wesley C. Swedlow 210 1$aNew York :$cContinuum,$d2010. 215 $a1 online resource (206 p.) 300 $aDescription based upon print version of record. 311 $a1-4411-4415-3 311 $a0-8264-3421-5 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index. 327 $aIntroduction: Problems with Reality -- Chapter 1. Desire and Ideology in the Leviathan -- Chapter 2. Internal Externalities -- Chapter 3. The Return of the Political -- Chapter 4. The Personification of Democracy -- Conclusion: Against the Personification of Democracy -- Index. 330 $a"Against the Personification of Democracy offers a new theory of political subjectivity that puts the dilemma of desire into the forefront. By using Lacan to read key figures in political philosophy, the book demonstrates why democratic theory -- representative or radical - is not only ineffective when it comes to the best form of political cohabitation, but also productive of destructive and self-defeating forces. The book begins with the debate between Hobbesian and Lockeian notions of subjectivity to argue that the nature of political subjectivity is a function of the problem of desire. It then considers the question of the proper structure of political cohabitation in light of Hannah Arendt's insights into what happened to the stateless in World War II, leading to a distinction between the person in a bare and unadorned form and the public persona that is represented in most forms of democracy. Lacan is used to reread the question of political subjectivity, but, unlike radical democratic theory, the book argues against agonistic, representative, and thus endless democracy. Such a political formation is seen as an instigation and ultimate disappointment to desire (the persona), which leads to general negative outcomes, including genocide, concentration camps, and the removal of rights. Arguing against Zizek's proposal that a radical Act can save us politically, the book proposes a universal political formation as the only way out of the dilemma of political desire. This formation is not dependent on public personas, but rooted in actual persons meeting in their locality and sovereign to no one. An indispensable text for anyone interested in political theory, political philosophy, and democratic theory, Against the Personification of Democracy critiques positive theories of sovereignty through its analysis of political subjectivity and the problem of desire. More importantly, it provides a truly universal theory of democratic cohabitation that escapes political desire and thus the scapegoats of democratic failure, not to mention the anxiety of the impossibility of the democratic promise."--Bloomsbury Publishing. 606 $aPolitical science$xPhilosophy 606 $aSubjectivity 606 $2Social & political philosophy 615 0$aPolitical science$xPhilosophy. 615 0$aSubjectivity. 676 $a320.01 700 $aSwedlow$b Wesley C.$01530159 801 0$bUtOrBLW 801 1$bUtOrBLW 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910780948503321 996 $aAgainst the personification of democracy$93774983 997 $aUNINA