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book: Derrida, Deconstruction and Political Theory
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Derrida, Deconstruction and Political Theory

Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2026

About this book

Explores how Jacques Derrida’s deconstruction can help analyse political concepts including justice, democracy, sovereignty, populism and post-truth

  • The first comprehensive study of deconstruction as political theory, showing Jacques Derrida’s relevance for contemporary political theory
  • Demonstrates the usefulness of deconstruction for the study of political concepts such as rights, justice, sovereignty, democracy, populism and post-truth
  • Contrasts a deconstructive approach with other theoretical approaches, including analytic philosophy and critical theory, and with liberal, deliberative, and biopolitical approaches to political concepts
  • Uses extensive examples from contemporary political phenomena such as Covid-19, Donald Trump's populism and post-truth
Drawing on the work of Jacques Derrida and other post-structuralists, this book argues for deconstruction as a distinctive way to practice political theory. Lasse Thomassen shows familiar critiques of deconstruction as relativist and apolitical to be misconceived, and argues for deconstruction as a critical approach to contemporary politics and society. In so doing, the book contrasts deconstruction with other approaches to political theory, including analytic philosophy, critical theory, liberalism, deliberative democracy and biopolitical approaches. Developing the argument around political concepts such as rights, justice, sovereignty, democracy and populism, the book combines the deconstructive readings of these political concepts with extensive engagements with contemporary political phenomena such as 9-11, Covid-19, Donald Trump and post-truth.

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    Frontmatter

    i
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    Contents

    v
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    Acknowledgements

    vi
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    Introduction Deconstruction as Political Theory

    1
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    1 Deconstruction between Particularity and Universality: Practising Political Theory Deconstructively

    17
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    2 Deconstructing Sovereignty Discourse: Between the Conditional and the Unconditional

    48
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    3 Democracy To-Come: Dealing with Disagreement

    79
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    4 Democratic Rogues: The People Goes to The Capitol

    103
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    5 The Force of Truth: Deconstruction against Post-Truth

    132
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    6 Deconstruction as/of Method: Exemplarity and Casing

    158
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    Conclusion

    179
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    References

    184
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    Index

    199
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
January 31, 2026
eBook ISBN:
9781399545402
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Main content:
216
https://doi.org/10.1515/9781399545402
eBook ISBN: 9781399545402
Keywords for this book
critique; deconstruction; democracy; Jacques Derrida; justice; method; political theory; populism; post-structuralism; post-truth; rights; sovereignty
Audience(s) for this book
For universities and colleges of further and higher education
Downloaded on 9.5.2026 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9781399545402/html?lang=en
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