Jodi Dean has two fascinating posts over at I cite :
Badiou and depression
Badiou and fear
Both posts are quick looks at a new book by Badiou The Meaning of Sarkozy. The book is focused on democracy and elections in France, but the lessons learned can easily be applied in the United States or Britain as well.
Here is short quote:See links above for full articles.Everyone can see that electoral democracy is not a space of real choice, but something that registers, like a passive seismograph, propensities that are quite different from an enlightened intention, and have nothing in common with the representaiton that a real thought can have of the objective that the will pursues.We know that a real choice isn’t offered because emphasis is always on the fact of choosing and not the outcome. Everyone praises the fact that people voted, that they showed up to vote. That they showed up is itself the triumph of democracy, no matter what sort of outcome—which means that democracy is indifferent to content. It’s simply a matter of form.


