The Return of Totalitarianism: Ideology, Terror, and Total Control

by Zarko Paic

Overview

This book enters into a detailed discussion with many theorists of totalitarianism, and demands a re-evaluation of approaches that speak of mass manipulation of people and ideological control mechanisms. Žarko Paić shows that totalitarianism cannot be only a political-ideological problem, but rather a problem of the relationship between the technosphere, political power, and the narcissistic culture of the spectacle, which offers postmodern revisionism and forgetfulness of history as opposed to brave civic participation in the public sphere of acting together. He investigates the transformations the political and cultural processes linked to the notion of ‘totalitarianism’ undergo in the contemporary world, and the transformations (and differences) that this notion expresses today in comparison to what was realized by fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism in the 20th century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783031189449
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	12/08/2022
Edition description:	1st ed. 2022
Pages:	225
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x (d)

About the Author

Žarko Paić is a Professor at the University of Zagreb, where he teaches courses in Aesthetics and Media Theory. He publishes frequently in philosophy, social sciences and art theory. His publications include White Holes and the Visualization of the Body (2019), Neoliberalism, Oligarchy and the Politics of the Event (2020),  and Art and the Technosphere (2022).

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Totalitarianism without Subject: The End of the Total State and the "Ideology" of the Corporatism
3. The Mystery of New Beginning: Hannah Arendt and the Political Modern Times
4. Metapolitics and Evil
5. The Triumph of Political Religions: Identity Politics and the Twilight of Culture
6. Ideology, Terror, Control: Does Totalitarianism have a Prospect for the Future?
7. Conclusion

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“With known forms of totalitarianism a thing of the past, the elusive concept of totalitarianism is nowadays seen mainly as an extreme possibility to which contemporary feeble democracies may succumb. In this perceptive and wide-ranging book, Žarko Paić proposes to reconsider the phenomenon of totalitarianism not as a ghastly apparition of history, but as a tangible reality increasingly emerging from new forms of governance, political and corporate, boosted by the visual and cultural regimes which eagerly put themselves to their service.” (Adam Chmielewski, Professor, University of Wrocław, Poland)