Cultural Contradictions of Democracy

John Brenkman is distinguished professor at the City University of New York and director of the U.S.-Europe Seminar at Baruch College. He has published widely on culture and political theory. He lives in New York and Paris.

"Philosophers and policy experts often look for answers by drawing strong conceptual oppositions. The Cultural Contradictions of Democracy, however, shows the shared dilemmas of writers who may themselves think they have nothing in common. This book-length essay tries to make sense of these philosophical and political contradictions by seeing them as necessary tensions in our attempts to reconcile competing values. For Brenkman, the contradictions of our political discourse reveal aspirations for freedom and democracy, for liberty and community. When we strive for freedom, we must learn to live with contradictions...Brenkman is that rare academic who can write well about both contemporary political practice and theory. His description of how the Bush administration was seized by power is insightful, and his critique of contemporary theory star Giorgio Agamben is concise and compelling."--Michael Roth, San Francisco Chronicle

• Introduction: Political Thought in the Fog of War 1 War and Democracy 1 Hobbes versus Kant? 4 Leviathan 6 The Neoconservative Illusion 9 The Frailty of Human Affairs 12 Crises of the Republic 14 The Argument 19 Seized by Power 24 Death and the Governor of Texas 24 The New American Exceptionalism 28 The Cold Warrior Myth 34 Kant with Arendt 37 Targeting Iraq 41 Al Qaeda and Ultimate Ends 43 A Grammar of Motives 46 The Imagination of Power 51 State of Exception 51 Arendt versus Agamben 55 Schmitt and Hobbes 59 Decision and Covenant 64 The Ordeal of Universalism 71 September 11 and Fables of the Left 78 First Response 78 Multilateral Ambivalence 81 Terrorism as Symptom 84 Chomskian Certitudes 87 Hardt and Negri's Empire 94 The Multitude and Prophecy 98 Iraq: Delirium of War, Delusions of Peace 103 The Idealism of Means 103 The Idealism of Ends 106 Neither Left nor Right 110 The Atlantic Misalliance 117 Diplomatic Intrigues and Political Truths 122 Repudiations of the UN Left and Right 126 The Hobbesian Nightmare: Occupied Iraq 131 The Ordeal of Universalism 137 Democracy and War 137 Postnational Cosmopolitanism versus Liberal Nationalism? 141 Kant with Hobbes 144 Habermas's Agon with Schmitt 146 Hobbes with Kant 152 Europe, or, the Empire of Rights 157 Islam's Geo-Civil War 165 Global Neoliberal Religious Conservatism? 170 No Exit 177 Conclusion: Prelude to the Unknown 182 Ideas and Errors 182 Arendt with Berlin 183 Liberty without Democracy versus Democracy without Liberty? 188 Democratic Striving and Sectarian Mobilization 191 Untimely Meditation 195 Index 201