Ranciere and Badiou: A Radical Politics of Equality, Space and the Event

This paper first locates the increasing attention given to the writings of Jacques Rancière in relation to the broad challenge of rethinking a radical politics in the face of the resilience of neo-liberal capitalism. It relates this challenge to current post-continental philosophy’s disillusionment with liberal democracy and traditional Marxist alternatives, and the search there for a new progressive form of politics. The main argument of the paper then situates Rancière’s work more precisely through a critical comparison with that of Alain Badiou. In particular, we draw out the key differences between Rancière and Badiou in order to address this broader concern for radical politics in the C21st, and organise our discussion around the key themes of “equality”, “event”, “subjectivity”, “politics” and “space”.