political

pick-up line

is entirely a matter of conflict with the enemy. The relation with the friend is only a pretext: For this conflict.

What is distinctively political, then, is entirely a matter of the conflict with the enemy... the relation with the friend is only a pretext: for this conflict. If the final step of this interpretation were correctly taken, in view of Schmitt's claim that the political has an existential priority over all other forms of association, Wolin would be quite right to conclude that Schmitt is committed to the view that 'all the energies of modern life stand in the service of war.'(n24) How then can Schmitt assure his readers that 'War is neither the aim nor the purpose nor even the very content of politics''(n25) (Norris 1998: .pdf)

is inseparable from the poetic and vice versa.

The essays collected here assert that this ideology has crumbled. They see culture as composed of seriously contested codes and representations... they assume that the poetic and the political are inseparable, that science is in, not above, historical and linguistic processes. (2)

is that activity made necessary by a distinction between friends and enemies, with the latter being defined as those who you are ready to enter into existential conflict with.

. . . The political enemy need not be morally evil or aesthetically ugly... he need not appear as an economic competitor, and it may even be advantageous to engage with him in business transaction. But he is, nevertheless, the other, the stranger... and it is sufficient for his nature that he is, in a specially intense way, existentially something different and alien, so that in the extreme case conflicts with him are always possible.' (p. 27)

is the moment of partial, contingent, and always, in the last instance, unsuccessful grounding.

The ontological weakening of ground does not lead to the assumption of the total absence of all grounds, but rather to the assumption of the impossibility of a final ground, which is something completely different as it implies an increased awareness of, on the one hand, contingency and, on the other, the political as the moment of partial and always, in the last instance, unsuccessful grounding. (marchart 2007 : 2)

is the structuring principle that sustains all non-political or pre-political relationships. As such, to call something non-political is to participate in a political gesture par excellence.

The task of critical analysis is to discern the hidden political process that sustains all these 'non' or 'pre'-political relationships. In human society, the political is the encompassing structuring principle, so that every neutralization of some partial content as 'nonpolitical' is a political gesture par excellence. (Zizek 2005 : 125)

is the terrain upon which those seeking recognition confront the established order.

Although Rancière does not maintain a strict terminological distinction between politics (la politique) and the political (le politique), he often distinguishes the latter as the meeting ground between politics and the police. In this sense, the political is the terrain upon which the verification of equality confronts the established order of identification and classification.' (Rancière 2000: 89). Rancière, Jacques. 2000. The Politics of Aesthetics: The Distribution of the Sensible. Continuum: New York.

is to be understood through the question of the ways in which the world claims you and your response to this kind of claim, from the position that you are in. It concerns micro actions, ways people manage to affirm for themselves with regard to ordinary things, a house, a ration card, admission to the local school for a child.

I understand the political through these questions: what are the ways that the world claims you' And how do you respond to this kind of claim, from the position that you are in' For example, I have been working a lot on people who live in un-authorized colonies in Delhi. They are always under danger of being evicted, because of course from one perspective they are occupying land illegally. And yet, there is a certain manner in which they can call upon the state, and make moral claims upon the state. And the state, even though it can be oppressive, does not simply rough shod over their claims. But people have to do work in order for the state to recognize them. And it is again fascinating to see how such a situation works through micro-actions coming together to create certain forms of citizenship which would not be evident from the perspective of some high theory. We need to theorize the political to acknowledge what people manage to affirm for themselves with regard to ordinary things, a house, a ration card, admission to the local school for a child.

is, in the widest possible sense, a desire to push the world in a certain direction, to alter other peoples' idea of the kind of society that they should strive after.

Using the word 'political' in the widest possible sense. Desire to push the world in a certain direction, to alter other peoples' idea of the kind of society that they should strive after. Once again, no book is genuinely free from political bias. The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude.

political, n.All

political