Étienne Balibar on the dialectic of universal citizenship

Philosophy and Social Criticism 48 (6):904-933 (2022)
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Abstract

In this article, I reconstruct Étienne Balibar’s work against the background of the debate on modern universal citizenship. I argue that universal citizenship is neither fundamentally emancipatory nor fundamentally oppressive but is rather both. In order to defend this position, I build on Balibar’s concept of the “citizen subject.” First, I parse this concept, showing how it allows us to think about the contradictions of modern universal citizenship. In the second section, I elucidate its temporal logic and show how it undermines the telos of modern universal citizenship. In sections three to five, I show how citizenship’s universalism clarifies both its oppressive and its emancipatory thrust. The dialectic of universal citizenship, I argue, unfolds as a conflict between and within political universals. In the conclusion, I will tie up these different strands and end with some reflections on the conditions of possibility of this dialectic.

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original Boonen, Christiaan (2021) "Étienne Balibar on the dialectic of universal citizenship". Philosophy and Social Criticism 48(6):904-933

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Christiaan Boonen
Tilburg University

Citations of this work

From agonistic to insurgent democracy.Lorenzo Buti - 2025 - Philosophy and Social Criticism 51 (2):263-279.

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