The Politics of Nihilism - From the Nineteenth Century to Contemporary Israel

Contemporary politics is faced, on the one hand, with political stagnation and lack of a progressive vision on the side of formal, institutional politics, and, on the other, with various social movements that venture to challenge modern understandings of representation, participation,and democracy. Interestingly, both institutional and anti-institutional sides of this antagonism tend to accuse each other of 'nihilism', namely, of mere oppositional destructiveness and failure to offer a constructive, positive alternative to the status quo. Nihilism seems, then, all engulfing.In order to better understand this political situation and ourselves within it, proposes a thorough theoretical examination of the concept of nihilism and its historical development followed by critical studies of Israeli politics and culture. The authors show that, rather than a mark of mutual opposition and despair, nihilism is a fruitful category for tracing and exploring the limits of political critique, rendering them less rigid and opening up a space of potentiality for thought, action, and creation.

Product details

• Authors: Roy Ben-Shai, Nitzan Lebovic, Nitzan Ben-Shai Lebovic
• Assisted by: Assistant Professor Roy Ben-Shai (Editor), Roy Ben-Shai (Editor), Assistant Professor Nitzan Lebovic (Editor), Nitzan Lebovic (Editor)
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 20.11.2014
• EAN: 9781623561482
• ISBN: 978-1-62356-148-2
• No. of pages: 248
• Dimensions: 148 mm x 226 mm x 16 mm
• Series: Political Theory and Contemporary Philosophy; Political Theory and Contemporary Philosophy; Political Theory and Contempor
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Philosophy > General, dictionaries; Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Miscellaneous; Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education