Zizek and Politics - by Matthew Sharpe & Geoff M Boucher (Paperback)

About the Book

A critical introduction to Slavoj Zizek's key areas of interest in politics.

Book Synopsis

This book provides students and experts alike with a new kind of introduction to Slavoj Zizek's political theory. Going beyond recounting Zizek's positions on ideology, capitalism, Leninism, Stalinism, fascism, and related matters, it offers readers an argumentative reconstruction of Zizek's ideas which places his prolific output in critical dialogue with political philosophy, critical theory, and the history of ideas.But this reconstruction is also a cautionary tale. It argues that Zizek, since 1995, has turned away from the Lacanian and Hegelian insights that made his first works so ground-breaking. Instead, Zizek and Politics examines how he has come to embrace a much more bleak, neo-Hobbesian position whose political implications are profoundly ambivalent.Key Features*Surveys all of Zizek's works from 1989 to 2008, focusing on the way his ideas concerning politics have developed*Includes concise reconstructions of Zizek's key political and philosophical ideas including ideology, the subject, the symptom, the ideological fantasy and the superego*Brings Zizek's ideas into dialogue with other key political thinkers and traditions*Situates Zizek's ideas in terms of contemporary political debates about the nature of justice, democracy, law and violence*Makes a new argument about Zizek's politics, moving debates concerning his work on to new terrain and putting the manifold criticisms of Zizek's work on a new footing

From the Back Cover

Slavoj Zizek is probably the most important figure in contemporary theory since Michel Foucault. Politically urgent as well as intellectually engaging, Zizek's writing has had an enormous impact on contemporary philosophy, social theory, cultural studies and communications departments. Zizek's thought is driven by the need to find an alternative to the problems of globalisation and the supposed end of ideology in the advanced democracies. His insights into popular culture and political life internationally have made him a 'must read' for anybody serious about understanding the condition the world is in today. Yet his works have often seemed an intellectual roller-coaster, to be enjoyed and admired, but not emulated or critically engaged. In Zizek and Politics, Geoff Boucher and Matthew Sharpe go beyond standard introductions to spell out a new approach to reading Zizek, one that can be highly critical as well as deeply appreciative. They show that Zizek has a raft of fundamental positions that enable his theoretical positions to be put to work on practical problems. Explaining these positions with clear examples, they outline why Zizek's confrontation with thinkers such as Derrida, Foucault and Deleuze has so radically changed how we think about society. They then go on to track Zizek's own intellectual development during the last twenty years, as he has grappled with theoretical problems and the political climate of the War on Terror. This book is a major addition to the literature on Zizek and a crucial critical introduction to his thought. Matthew Sharpe lectures in philosophy and psychoanalytic studies at Deakin University. He has published Slavoj Zizek: A Little Piece of the Real and is co-editor of Traversing the Fantasy: Critical Essays on Slavok Zizek (2005). Geoff Boucher lectures in literary studies and psychoanalytic studies at Deakin University. He has published articles on Zizek in Telos and is co-editor of Traversing the Fa

About the Author

Matthew Sharpe lectures in philosophy and psychoanalytic studies at Deakin University. He has published Slavoj Zizek: A Little Piece of the Real and is co-editor of Traversing the Fantasy: Critical Essays on Slavok Zizek (Ashgate 2005). He has also co-written on Australian politics in The Times Will Suit Them-Postmodern Conservatism in Australia (Allen & Unwin 2008) and is the author of articles on Zizek, Strauss, Marcuse, Derrida, Castoriadis, Camus, Lacan, Kant, Foucault and Schmitt.

Geoff Boucher lectures in literary studies and psychoanalytic studies at Deakin University. He has published articles on Zizek in Telos and is co-editor of Traversing the Fantasy: Critical Essays on Slavok Zizek (Ashgate 2005). He has also written The Charmed Circle of Ideology (Re-Press 2008) on the post-Marxism of Butler, Zizek, Laclau and Mouffe, and co-written on Australian politics in The Times Will Suit Them-Postmodern Conservatism in Australia (Allen & Unwin 2008).