Balibar and Europe: Towards Democratic Socialism Beyond the Nation

Abstract

Revisiting Balibar’s critical work on the European Union, Teresa Pullano suggests a double and conflictual perspective at the heart of his writing: for Balibar, Europe is “both a philosophical node and a political terrain for theoretical reflection”. Attentive to the forms of violence traversing the European continent, that has already been “provincialized”, Pullano emphasizes the actuality of Balibar’s thought, in particular in relation to neo-racism and postcolonialism. Pullano explores how this actuality and originality of Balibar’s thought is further deepened by the constant and mutually beneficial interrogation between Marx and Europe, sustaining the possibility, according to Balibar, of a democratic and socially responsible refoundation of the European Union.