The Bourgeois and the Islamist, or, The Other Subjects of Politics

Abstract

There is much theoretical work already underway on the many facets of Badiou's theory of political subjectivation. However, little attention has been directed hitherto to those figures of the subject which cannot be easily identifiable with a universalist or generic orientation. Beginning with Badiou#39;s struggles with the subjectivity of the bourgeois in the seminars that make up his Theorie du sujet (1982), this article tries to track his thinking of the 'other', non- or anti-universalist subjects of politics, and to think what effects their inclusion within a theory of the subject, and indeed a theory of political praxis, may have. Taking issue with some recent remarks of Badiou on the isomorphies between Islamism and fascism in Logiques des mondes (2006), the article also seeks to develop Badiou's notion of reactive; and obscure; subjects through a brief engagement with recent interpretations of political Islam.