There Is No Alternative

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  • Japhy Wilson
    University of Manchester
  • Erik Swyngedouw
    University of Manchester
In the concluding chapter, the authors return to the question of democracy. Yet in the on-going fallout from the global financial crisis, even the least radical of democrats would struggle to disagree with Alain Badiou’s assertion that democracy now means ‘nothing more than an eager willingness to service the needs of the banks’ or his claim that what passes for democracy would be more accurately named ‘capitalo-parliamentarism’. In this context, the chapter argues that any commitment to democracy that precludes the urgent transformation of the capitalist mode of production can only be regarded as part of the problem. It is from this perspective that the idea of communism is discussed, an idea that may galvanize a new emancipatory imaginary.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Post-Political and Its Discontents, Spaces of Depoliticisation, Spectres of Radical Politics
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2015
Externally publishedYes
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