Democracy and Defiance
Ranciere, Lefort, Abensour and the Antinomies of Politics
Published on 31. December 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
240 pages
978-1-4744-7723-9 (ISBN)
Description
This book explores an often neglected current in contemporary French political thought that challenges the limits of the concept of democracy. It situates the projects of Jacques Ranciere, Claude Lefort and Miguel Abensour in relation to each other, as well as to the larger philosophical question of the nature of democracy itself. In doing so, Bryan Nelson illuminates democracy's potential as a profound emancipatory and transformative project, offering an unprecedented challenge to modes of domination, strategies of inequality and hierarchies of all kinds.
Against prevailing interpretations, the author draws on the central concepts, problems and polemics in the works of Ranciere, Lefort and Abensour to develop a bold conception of democracy that allows us to rethink its character, power and broader social and political implications.
Against prevailing interpretations, the author draws on the central concepts, problems and polemics in the works of Ranciere, Lefort and Abensour to develop a bold conception of democracy that allows us to rethink its character, power and broader social and political implications.
Reviews / Votes
Nelson's book is imbued with both a sense of urgency and an almost timeless feeling. It asks us to rethink democracy, because the all-too-established notions that try to tame it fail at grasping its "savage" nature. This task is demanded by our times, but it is also intrinsic to democracy itself. -- Martin Plot, California Institute of the ArtsMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Edinburgh
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 157 mm
Width: 236 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
378 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4744-7723-9 (9781474477239)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Bryan Nelson is a Liberal Arts & Sciences Professor at Humber College, Toronto, Canada.
Content
Introduction: The Antinomies of Politics
Towards Democracy's Anarchic Condition
Democracy as Critique
Plato Discovers the Political: Ranciere's Reading of the Allegory of the Ship
Philosophy's Sovereignty over Politics: Abensour's Reading of the Allegory of the Cave
The Polemics of the Polis: The Greek Invention of Politics
Democracy's Anarchic Condition: A New Political Ontology
Making Politics Thinkable
Dissolution of the Arche
In the Name of Democracy: The Kratos of the Demos
On the Universality of the Problem of the Arche
The Nature of Rule: An Interpretation of Plato's Laws
Commandment and Commencement: The Strange Logic of the Arche Principle
In Summary: Archic Government
Enter Democracy: What Does It Mean to be against the Arche?
Understanding Democracy's 'Anarchic Title'
Democracy as 'Political' or 'Anarchic' Government
Anarchy: The Infinite Opening
To Think Democracy Otherwise: Claude Lefort and Savage Democracy
On the Status of Political Philosophy
Pierre Clastres and the Logic of Being-Against
The Essence of Democracy: A Question of Interpretation
Democratic Revolution: Tocqueville and Lefort
The 'Principle of Anarchy' and the Emancipatory Act of Politics
Permanent Contestation: Savage Democracy and Human Rights
Thinking Democracy Savage: A Philosophical Exercise
Democratisation of the Sensible: Democracy against the Police
On the Many Forms of Being-Against
Politics and the Police: A Radical Dichotomy
Foucault, the Police and Governmentality
The Government of the Sensible and the Symbolic Constitution of Society: Ranciere's Concept of the Police
'Logical Revolt': Towards a Theory of the Political Subject
On Political Names
The 'History' or 'Tradition' of Emancipation
The Politics of Emancipation: Democracy against the State
Social Domination and Political Emancipation: An Introduction to Abensour's General Approach to Democracy
From the Frankfurt School to Lefort and Machiavelli: Abensour's Critical Political Philosophy
Utopia and Democracy
Against the State: Clastres contra Hobbes
Marx's 'Machiavellian Moment': Hegel, Sovereignty and Political Alienation
'True' Democracy and the Reduction of the State
Insurgent Democracy
In Summary: Ranciere's Democracy against the Police and Abensour's Democracy against the State
Conclusion: 'Hic et nunc' - the Use of Philosophy and the Critique of the Present
Bibliography
Index
Towards Democracy's Anarchic Condition
Democracy as Critique
Plato Discovers the Political: Ranciere's Reading of the Allegory of the Ship
Philosophy's Sovereignty over Politics: Abensour's Reading of the Allegory of the Cave
The Polemics of the Polis: The Greek Invention of Politics
Democracy's Anarchic Condition: A New Political Ontology
Making Politics Thinkable
Dissolution of the Arche
In the Name of Democracy: The Kratos of the Demos
On the Universality of the Problem of the Arche
The Nature of Rule: An Interpretation of Plato's Laws
Commandment and Commencement: The Strange Logic of the Arche Principle
In Summary: Archic Government
Enter Democracy: What Does It Mean to be against the Arche?
Understanding Democracy's 'Anarchic Title'
Democracy as 'Political' or 'Anarchic' Government
Anarchy: The Infinite Opening
To Think Democracy Otherwise: Claude Lefort and Savage Democracy
On the Status of Political Philosophy
Pierre Clastres and the Logic of Being-Against
The Essence of Democracy: A Question of Interpretation
Democratic Revolution: Tocqueville and Lefort
The 'Principle of Anarchy' and the Emancipatory Act of Politics
Permanent Contestation: Savage Democracy and Human Rights
Thinking Democracy Savage: A Philosophical Exercise
Democratisation of the Sensible: Democracy against the Police
On the Many Forms of Being-Against
Politics and the Police: A Radical Dichotomy
Foucault, the Police and Governmentality
The Government of the Sensible and the Symbolic Constitution of Society: Ranciere's Concept of the Police
'Logical Revolt': Towards a Theory of the Political Subject
On Political Names
The 'History' or 'Tradition' of Emancipation
The Politics of Emancipation: Democracy against the State
Social Domination and Political Emancipation: An Introduction to Abensour's General Approach to Democracy
From the Frankfurt School to Lefort and Machiavelli: Abensour's Critical Political Philosophy
Utopia and Democracy
Against the State: Clastres contra Hobbes
Marx's 'Machiavellian Moment': Hegel, Sovereignty and Political Alienation
'True' Democracy and the Reduction of the State
Insurgent Democracy
In Summary: Ranciere's Democracy against the Police and Abensour's Democracy against the State
Conclusion: 'Hic et nunc' - the Use of Philosophy and the Critique of the Present
Bibliography
Index