Deleuze & Fascism: Security: War: Aesthetics

by Brad Evans (Editor), Julian Reid (Editor)

This edited volume deploys Deleuzian thinking to re-theorize fascism as a mutable problem in changing orders of power relations dependent on hitherto misunderstood social and political conditions of formation. The book provides a theoretically distinct approach to the problem of fascism and its relations with liberalism and modernity in both historical and contemporary contexts. It serves as a seminal intervention into the debate over the causes and consequences of contemporary wars and global political conflicts as well as functioning as an accessible guide to the theoretical utilities of Deleuzian thought for International Relations (IR) in a manner that is very much lacking in current debates about IR. Covering a wide array of topics, this volume will provide a set of original contributions focussed in particular upon the contemporary nature of war; the increased priorities afforded to the security imperative; the changing designs of bio-political regimes, fascist aesthetics; nihilistic tendencies and the modernist logic of finitude; the politics of suicide; the specific desires upon which fascism draws and, of course, the recurring pursuit of power. An important contribution to the field, this work will be of great interest to students and scholars of international relations, fascism and international relations theory.

216 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Lukáš · Rating 4 out of 5]

The idea of the book is excellent, most of the chapters really seem to take some of Deleuze's considerations beyond Deleuze and most of the content is really well-written. As it goes in quite a number of ways, I find it quite difficult to give a short summary - let me just throw the idea that as much as concerns with totalitarianism and fascism and the possibilities of their recurrence are an integral part of the contemporary political imaginary, and a part of the post-World War II institutional design, the book uses them to examine the structures and modalities of power at play, coming to Michel Foucault's preface to Deleuze and Guattari's Anti-Oedipus and the task to challenge the fascist and the obsession with power in you.
The only problem with the book is that a number of Deleuze and Guattari's points (and notorious quotes... or quotes actualized as notorious?) are repeated in numerous chapters, and while none of the chapters is by any means bad , some of the ideas could be further developed without the unnecessary repetition of some of the key points (most of them already in the introduction), though I admit it makes sense to repeat, as these are key points. Maybe a little too much to ask on my behalf.