February 6, 2008
A review of Simon Critchley's recentInfinitely Demanding: Ethics of Commitment, Politics of Resistance by Peter Gratton. The text explores the best way to conceive of and theorise political action ( a politics of commitment) when radical politics in retreat.
The situation is this. Politics in liberal democ-racies has been reduced to economic self-interest and an obsession with security and many people have reacted by disengaging from traditional processes of government. On the one hand we have demotivated citizens opting out of the political process, on the other we have a disaffected jihadist minority, motivated, but on a religious basis. To remotivate people to act ethically and engage politically we need a politics of commitment, based on a new sense of ethical demands and responsibilities, on conscience. When people recognise that politics is of overwhelming importance not to their self-interest but as something else they will engage.
So how does Critchley argue for this?
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