The Return of Totalitarianism
Description
This book enters into a detailed discussion with many theorists of totalitarianism, and demands a re-evaluation of approaches that speak of mass manipulation of people and ideological control mechanisms. Zarko Paic shows that totalitarianism cannot be only a political-ideological problem, but rather a problem of the relationship between the technosphere, political power, and the narcissistic culture of the spectacle, which offers postmodern revisionism and forgetfulness of history as opposed to brave civic participation in the public sphere of acting together. He investigates the transformations the political and cultural processes linked to the notion of 'totalitarianism' undergo in the contemporary world, and the transformations (and differences) that this notion expresses today in comparison to what was realized by fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism in the 20th century.
Reviews / Votes
"With known forms of totalitarianism a thing of the past, the elusive concept of totalitarianism is nowadays seen mainly as an extreme possibility to which contemporary feeble democracies may succumb. In this perceptive and wide-ranging book, Zarko Paic proposes to reconsider the phenomenon of totalitarianism not as a ghastly apparition of history, but as a tangible reality increasingly emerging from new forms of governance, political and corporate, boosted by the visual and cultural regimes which eagerly put themselves to their service." (Adam Chmielewski, Professor, University of Wroclaw, Poland)More details
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Person
Zarko Paic is a Professor at the University of Zagreb, where he teaches courses in Aesthetics and Media Theory. He publishes frequently in philosophy, social sciences and art theory. His publications include White Holes and the Visualization of the Body (2019) , Neoliberalism, Oligarchy and the Politics of the Event (2020) , and Art and the Technosphere (2022) .