What Does Europe Want?
The Union and Its Discontents
Published on 23. December 2014
Book
Hardback
240 pages
978-0-231-17106-9 (ISBN)
Description
Slavoj Zizek and Srecko Horvat combine their critical clout to emphasize the dangers of ignoring Europe's growing wealth gap and the parallel rise in right-wing nationalism, which is directly tied to the fallout from the ongoing financial crisis and its prescription of imposed austerity. To general observers, the European Union's economic woes appear to be its greatest problem, but the real peril is an ongoing ideological-political crisis that threatens an era of instability and reactionary brutality.
The fall of communism in 1989 seemed to end the leftist program of universal emancipation. However, nearly a quarter of a century later, the European Union has failed to produce any coherent vision that can mobilize people to action. Until recently, the only ideology receptive to European workers has been the nationalist call to "defend" against immigrant integration. Today, Europe is focused on regulating the development of capitalism and promoting a reactionary conception of its cultural heritage. Yet staying these courses, Zizek and Horvat show, only strips Europe of its power and stifles its political ingenuity. The best hope is for Europe to revive and defend its legacy of universal egalitarianism, which benefits all parties by preserving the promise of equal representation.
The fall of communism in 1989 seemed to end the leftist program of universal emancipation. However, nearly a quarter of a century later, the European Union has failed to produce any coherent vision that can mobilize people to action. Until recently, the only ideology receptive to European workers has been the nationalist call to "defend" against immigrant integration. Today, Europe is focused on regulating the development of capitalism and promoting a reactionary conception of its cultural heritage. Yet staying these courses, Zizek and Horvat show, only strips Europe of its power and stifles its political ingenuity. The best hope is for Europe to revive and defend its legacy of universal egalitarianism, which benefits all parties by preserving the promise of equal representation.
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Persons
Slavoj Zizek is a professor at the Institute for Sociology, University of Ljubljana, and at the European Graduate School. Among his most recent books are Demanding the Impossible, The Year of Dreaming Dangerously, and The Sublime Object of Ideology. He is a coeditor of Hegel and the Infinite: Religion, Politics, and Dialectic and a contributor to Democracy in What State?, What Does a Jew Want? On Binationalism and Other Specters, and Reimagining the Sacred: Debating God with Richard Kearney. Srecko Horvat is a Croatian philosopher and the author of nine books. He is also a highly respected political theorist and activist, and a columnist for The Guardian. His latest book is After the End of History: From the Arab Spring to the Occupy Movement.
Content
Foreword: The Destruction of Greece as a Model for All of Europe-Is this the Future that Europe Deserves?, by Alexis Tsipras
Preface: What does the U.S. Want, or What to Do After Occupy?, by Srecko Horvat
1. Breaking Our Eggs without the Omelette, from Cyprus to Greece, by Slavoj Zizek
2. Danke Deutschland!, by Srecko Horvat
3. When the Blind Are Leading the Blind, Democracy Is the Victim , by Slavoj Zizek
4. Why the EU Needs Croatia More than Croatia Needs the EU, by Srecko Horvat
5. What Does Europe Want?, by Slavoj Zizek
6. Are the Nazis Living on the Moon?, by Srecko Horvat
7. The Return of the Christian-conservative Revolution, by Slavoj Zizek
8. In the Land of Blood and Money: Angelina Jolie and the Balkans, by Srecko Horvat
9. The Turkish March, by Slavoj Zizek
10. War and Peace in Europe: 'Bei den Sorglosen', by Srecko Horvat
11. Save Us from the Saviours: Europe and the Greeks, by Slavoj Zizek
12. 'I'm Not Racist, but . . . the Blacks are Coming!', by Srecko Horvat
13. Shoplifters of the World Unite, by Slavoj Zizek
14. Do Markets Have Feelings?, by Srecko Horvat
15. The Courage to Cancel the Debt, by Slavoj Zizek
16. The Easiest Way to the Gulag Is to Joke About the Gulag, by Srecko Horvat
17. We Need a Margaret Thatcher of the Left, by Slavoj Zizek
18. Europe Will Be Either Democratic and Social or It Will No Longer Exist (interview by Srecko Horvat), by Alexis Tsipras
19. The Role of the European Left (debate), by Slavoj Zizek and Alexis Tsipras
Afterword: Europe Is Dead, Long Live Europe!, by Srecko Horvat
Notes
Preface: What does the U.S. Want, or What to Do After Occupy?, by Srecko Horvat
1. Breaking Our Eggs without the Omelette, from Cyprus to Greece, by Slavoj Zizek
2. Danke Deutschland!, by Srecko Horvat
3. When the Blind Are Leading the Blind, Democracy Is the Victim , by Slavoj Zizek
4. Why the EU Needs Croatia More than Croatia Needs the EU, by Srecko Horvat
5. What Does Europe Want?, by Slavoj Zizek
6. Are the Nazis Living on the Moon?, by Srecko Horvat
7. The Return of the Christian-conservative Revolution, by Slavoj Zizek
8. In the Land of Blood and Money: Angelina Jolie and the Balkans, by Srecko Horvat
9. The Turkish March, by Slavoj Zizek
10. War and Peace in Europe: 'Bei den Sorglosen', by Srecko Horvat
11. Save Us from the Saviours: Europe and the Greeks, by Slavoj Zizek
12. 'I'm Not Racist, but . . . the Blacks are Coming!', by Srecko Horvat
13. Shoplifters of the World Unite, by Slavoj Zizek
14. Do Markets Have Feelings?, by Srecko Horvat
15. The Courage to Cancel the Debt, by Slavoj Zizek
16. The Easiest Way to the Gulag Is to Joke About the Gulag, by Srecko Horvat
17. We Need a Margaret Thatcher of the Left, by Slavoj Zizek
18. Europe Will Be Either Democratic and Social or It Will No Longer Exist (interview by Srecko Horvat), by Alexis Tsipras
19. The Role of the European Left (debate), by Slavoj Zizek and Alexis Tsipras
Afterword: Europe Is Dead, Long Live Europe!, by Srecko Horvat
Notes