This book provides the first political theory of post-Communist Europe, discussing liberty, rights, transitional justice, property, privatization, and rule of law.

In some circles, a nod towards totalitarianism is enough to dismiss any critique of the status quo. Such is the insidiousness of the neo-liberal ideology, argues Slavoj Zizek. Did Somebody Say Totalitarianism? turns a specious rhetorical strategy on its head to identify a network of family resemblances between totalitarianism and modern liberal democracy. Zizek argues that totalitarianism is invariably defined in terms of four things: the Holocaust as the ultimate, diabolical evil; the Stalinist gulag as the alleged truth of the socialist revolutionary project; ethnic and religious fundamentalisms, which are to be fought through multiculturalist tolerance; and the deconstructionist idea that the ultimate root of totalitarianism is the ontological closure of thought. Zizek concludes that the devil lies not so much in the detail but in what enables the very designation totalitarian: the liberal-democratic consensus itself.

At a time when China is once again facing a major turning point in its direction, I firmly believe that my academic dispute with Wang Hui is in no way a personal or left-right dispute. Wang Hui's grand narrative about the Chinese revolution and the Chinese century is meant to provide a new legitimate basis for one party to rule forever, to place world history in the value system of the Chinese revolution, and to shape the Chinese revolution and its regime into the ultimate source and ultimate judge of universal justice in the world. There is no doubt that Wang Hui's new theoretical proposition is not only far from the basic idea of liberalism, but also far from the political democratic position that the Western left-wing tradition has always insisted on. Since liberal scholars have automatically given up head-on confrontation with Wang Hui, it is time to end Wang Hui's theories, which have never been subjected to comprehensive and systematic academic criticism in China's intellectual and intellectual spheres for nearly thirty years. Therefore, at such a time, it would be an unforgivable dereliction of duty for liberals to fail to take the initiative, as Raymond Aron did, to undertake the historical mission of criticizing barbaric ideologies–totalitarianism and statism– and to hold fast to the basic virtues given to intellectuals by providence. As Arendt said, "the storm of ideas is not characterized by knowledge, but by the ability to distinguish good from evil, beauty from ugliness. And this may indeed prevent disaster in that rare moment of crisis."

Totalitarianism: The Basics is an easy-to-read introduction into the main concepts, ideologies, and regimes associated with totalitarianism. Starting with an overview of how scholars have attempted to define totalitarianism, Phillip W. Gray begins with an examination of the various types of terms used, helping the reader think about how these terms do – and do not – apply to different ideologies and governments. Easily accessible language and the use of numerous examples aid readers in seeing the connections between certain types of ideologies and some forms of organization/movements in their relation to historically well-known totalitarian regimes. Gray concludes with the tools necessary to think through how to distinguish between an actual (or potential) totalitarian system and regimes that, while oppressive or authoritarian, would not be totalitarian in nature. A rich bibliography containing additional readings bookend the text. Totalitarianism: The Basics offers an essential introduction for students from all backgrounds seeking to understand totalitarianism and for general readers with an interest in political ideologies and extremism. For those knowledgeable in this field, it adds conceptual relevance and a variety of ways of thinking about the term.

Adding a new dimension to the ongoing scholarly and political debate about Islamism or political Islam within the context of modern politics in Africa, the Middle East and the Muslim world, this study details the development and disintegration of the Islamists' Republic in the Sudan. The Islamists' regime in the Sudan has propagated a distinctive ideology whose declared aim was to create a primary model of an Islamist state. This book is the story of the social world of Islamism. Based on extensive field work inside and outside the regime, it provides an entry point into its local and global worlds as they interact and collide with each other. The book places considerable emphasis on the theoretical development and growth of Islamism to address the profound transformations within political Islam. Political scientists, sociologists interested in religion and Middle Eastern and African scholars should read this book.

Rereading Marx through Walter Benjamin and Jacques Derrida, The Promise of Memory attempts to establish a philosophy of liberation. Matthias Fritsch explores how memories of injustice relate to the promises of justice that democratic societies have inherited from the Enlightenment. Focusing on the Marxist promise for a classless society, since it contains a political promise whose institutionalization led to totalitarian outcomes, Fritsch argues that both memories and promises, if taken by themselves, are one-sided and potentially justify violence if they do not reflect on the implicit relation between them. He examines Benjamin's reinterpretation of Marxism after the disappointment of the Russian and German revolutions and Derrida's "messianic" inheritance of Marx after the breakdown of the Soviet Union. The book also contributes to contemporary political philosophy by relating Marxist social goals and German critical theory to debates about deconstructive ethics and politics.

In this book, a leading French social thinker grapples with the gap between the tendency toward globalization of economic relations and mass culture and the increasingly sectarian nature of our social identities as members of ethnic, religious, or national groups. Though at first glance, it might seem as if the answer to the question “Can we live together?” is that we already do live together—watching the same television programs, buying the same clothes, and even using the same language to communicate from one country to another—the author argues that in important ways, we are farther than ever from belonging to the same society or the same culture. Our small societies are not gradually merging into one vast global society; instead, the simultaneously political, territorial, and cultural entities that we once called societies or countries are breaking up before our eyes in the wake of ethnic, political, and religious conflict. The result is that we live together only to the extent that we make the same gestures and use the same objects—we do not communicate with one another in a meaningful way or govern ourselves together. What power can now reconcile a transnational economy with the disturbing reality of introverted communities? The author argues against the idea that all we can do is agree on some social rules of mutual tolerance and respect for personal freedom, and forgo the attempt to forge deeper bonds. He argues instead that we can use a focus on the personal life-project—the construction of an active self or “subject”—ultimately to form meaningful social and political institutions. The book concludes by exploring how social institutions might be retooled to safeguard the development of the personal subject and communication between subjects, and by sketching out what these new social institutions might look like in terms of social relations, politics, and education.

Die im vorliegenden Band versammelten Aufsätze analysieren die vielfältige Art und Weise, wie der Vatikan, die nationalen Kirchen und einzelne Katholiken mit dem Aufstieg der extremen Rechten in Europa während der 1920er, 1930er und frühen 1940er Jahre umgingen, vom Ende des Ersten Weltkriegs, der mit Recht als einer der wichtigsten Katalysatoren des europäischen Faschismus in der Zwischenkriegszeit gilt, bis zum Schluss und zu den unmittelbaren Nachwirkungen des Zweiten Weltkriegs. Während einige Aufsätze sich auf theoretische, methodologische Probleme konzentrieren, beschäftigen sich die meisten Beiträge mit jeweils einem Land oder einer Region, wo eine faschistische Bewegung oder ein solches Regime zwischen den Kriegen und während des Zweiten Weltkriegs erfolgreich war, und wo es gleichzeitig eine signifikante katholische Präsenz in der Gesellschaft gab. Fast ganz Europa wird behandelt – ein beispielloses Unternehmen - , und eine große Zahl wichtiger Kontexte und Methoden wird untersucht. So wirken die Beiträge mit an der allgemeinen Entwicklung eines interpretativen ‚Cluster‘-Modells, das eine Reihe von Grundmustern der Forschung vereinigt und zukünftige Untersuchungen anregen wird. The papers presented in this volume analyse the many ways in which the Vatican, national Churches and individual catholics dealt with the rise of the extreme right in Europe throughout the 1920s, 1930s and early 1940s, from the end of the First World War, arguably one of the main catalysts of European interwar fascism, to the conclusion and immediate aftermath of the Second World War. While a number of papers focus primarily on theoretical, methodological issues pertaining to the book’s general theme, the majority of papers focus on either a country or region where a fascist movement or regime flourished between the wars and during the Second World War, and where there was a significant catholic presence in society. The various chapters cover almost the entire European continent – an endeavour that is unprecedented –, and they explore a wide range of relevant contexts and methodologies, thus further contributing to the general development of an interpretive ‘cluster’ model that incorporates a series of investigative matrixes, and that will hopefully inspire future research.