Politics of Identity

Introducing a definition of political action and its political subject for emancipator politics is the concern of the most political thinkers. In this respect, the thinkers of the Left have grappled with it even more than others. This essay reflects on some of the major figures of the new left, in particular Alain Badiou and Jacques Ranciere, who have been influenced in different degrees by Jacques Lacan. It traces their attempts to formulate a different and allegedly universal definition of political action and its subject in order to find out whether they have been successful in mapping a new and "emancipator" definition or they have simply reproduced the old implications and traditional prescriptions in an apparently new guise.