Democracy in What State? is timely, represents a wide variety of thinkers, and displays the political themes that are of concern to these thinkers. This allows the reader not only to have access to a general progressive critique of current political practice but also to compare different approaches to progressive thought and action, particularly (although not exclusively) in the contemporary French scene. If I saw it on a bookstore shelf, I would undoubtedly reach for it with one hand while reaching for my wallet with the other. -- Todd May, Class of 1941 Memorial Professor of the Humanities, Clemson University A timely and thought-provoking collection that shows that radical thinking and the politics of dissent are more than ever necessary in order to create a different kind of politics. Perhaps what most makes this book admirable is its attempt to start the dialogue that will rattle the sacrosanct cage of liberal democratic thinking. Marx and Philosophy Review of Books 11/1/2011

Giorgio Agamben teaches at the Universita IUAV di Venezia, the College International de Philosophie in Paris, and the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland. Alain Badiou is the Rene Descartes Chair at the European Graduate School and teaches at the Ecole Normale Superieure and the College International de Philosophie. Daniel Bensaid is a philosopher and leader of the Trotskyist movement in France. He is the author of Marx for Our Times. Wendy Brown is the Heller Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. Her books include Regulating Aversion: Tolerance in an Age of Identity and Empire and Edgework: Critical Essays in Knowledge and Politics. Jean-Luc Nancy is professor of philosophy emeritus at the University of Strasbourg and a student of Lyotard and Derrida. Jacques Ranciere is professor of philosophy emeritus at the University of Paris. A collaborator of Althusser, his major works include The Future of the Image and The Politics of Aesthetics. Kristin Ross is professor of comparative literature at New York University and the author of the award-winning Fast Cars, Clean Bodies: Decolonization and the Reordering of French Culture. Slavoj Zizek is a professor at the Institute for Sociology, Univeristy of Ljubljana, Slovenia, and at the European Graduate School. His books include Living in the End Times and Less Than Nothing: Hegel and the Shadow of Dialectical Materialism.