Democracy and Other Neoliberal Fantasies Communicative Capitalism and Left Politics

AND OTHER NEOLIBERAL FANTASIES

COMMUNICATIVE CAPITALISM AND LEFT POLITICS

JODI DEAN

DEMOCRACY

AND OTK !IE

NEOLIBERAL

FANTASIES

Comunicative Capitalism & Left Politics

JODI DEAN

DUKE UNIVERSJ:TY PRESS ! DURHAM & LONDON 2009

© 2009 Duke University Press Al rights reserved Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper o Designed by Jennifer Hil Typeset in Arno Pro by Keystone Typesetting, Inc.

JODI DEAN is a professor of political science at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and the Erasmus Professor of the Humanities in the Faculty of Philosophy at Erasmus University, Rotterdam. Her previous books include Zizek's Politics, Publicity's Secret: How Technoculture Capitalizes on Democracy, and Aliens in America: Conspiracy Cultures from Outerspace to Cyberspace.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Public�tion Data

Dean, Jodi, 1962-

Democracy and other neoliberal fartta�ies : communicative capitalism and left politics I Jodi Dean.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-o-8223-4492-6 (cloth : alk. paper)

ISBN 978-o-8223-4505-3 (pbk.: alk. paper)

1. Democratic Party (U.S.) 2. Politics, Practical-United States.

3· Political parties-United States. 4. United States-Politics and goverilent-2001-: 5. Democracy-United States. 6. Neoliberalism-United States. I. Title. JK2316.D43 2009

324.2736-dc22 2009008983

For Paul1 with love and disagreement

Acknowledgments ix
Introduction
P O S T-P O LITI C S AND LEFT VIC T O RY
1 Technology 19
THE P RO MI S E S O F C O MMUNICATIVE CAPI TALI SM
2 Free Trade 49
THE N E O LIBE RAL FAN TASY
3 Democracy 75
A KN O T O F H O PE AND D E S PAIR
4 Resolve 95
S P EAKING O F EVIL
5 Ethics 123
LEF T RE S P O N SIVENES S AND RETREAT
6 Certainty 145
9/1 C ONS PIRA C Y THE O RIES AND P SYC H O SIS
Notes 177
Bibliography 195
Index 203

CONTENTS

$\mathbb { T }$ he chapters of Democracy and Other Neoliberal Fantasies began as responses. Some were responses to specific invitations. Al were responses to the worsening political situation in the United States under the regime of George W. Bush and his global war of terror. I have substantially reworked the arguments here since I first delivered or published them, and I am grateful to those who took the time to respond to the early versions, to question or provoke me, and to ofer suggestions and opportunities. Early versions of the first two chapters were published in Cultural Politics; the first appeared as "Communicative Capitalism: Circulation and the Foreclosure of Politics;' in volume ${ \mathbf { 1 } } ,$ number 1 (2oos); the second appeared as "Enjoying Neoliberalism;' in volume $^ { 4 , }$ number 1 ( 2008). Chapters 3 and 4 grew out of articles published in Theory and Event: "The Democratic Deadlock;' from volume $^ { 1 0 , }$ number $_ 4$ (2oo8); and "Evil's Political Habitats;' from volume $^ { 8 , }$ number 2 (2oos). The fith chapter reworks material from my contribution to Terrell Carver's and Samuel A. Chamber's Judith Butler's Precarious Politics (Routledge, 2008).

In writing this book, I have benefited from the work of numerous people. I try to thank by name those who extended invitations that enabled me to present and develop my ideas. Yet I want also to acknowledge my appreciation of the work of those who arranged flights and hotels, ofices and meals, receptions and translators, but remain unnamed, behind the scenes. Thanks to Gonzalo Portocarrero for the opportunity to deliver a series of lectures inaugurating the Master's Program in Cultural Studies at Catholic University, Lima, Peru (and Alexandra Hibbet, who worked tirelessly as a translator and guide); Zoran Rosko and Petar Milat for the opportunity to present an early version of the first chapter at MAMA Multimedia Institute in Zagreb; Heiko Feldner and Fabio Vighi for arranging a research fellowship and lectures at Cardif School of European Studies; Lars Iyer for the invitation to Newcastle upon Tyne; David Garcia for the invitation to speak in connection with the exhibit "Faith in Exposure" at Montevideo in Amsterdam; Steven Shaviro for inviting me to give a lecture in the DeRoy Lecture Series in the English Department at Wayne State University; James Maggio for the invitation to the University of Florida; Davide Panagia for the invitation to the Center for Theory, Culture, and Politics at Trent University; Keith Topper for the invitation to participate in the conference on weak ontologies at Northwestern University; Ross Cisneros for the invitation to the sumit "Regarding Evil" at MIT; and, Michael Norquist for the invitation to speak with the graduate students in political theory at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS