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The author starts with the relationship between Badiou's otherwise severe critique of democracy & Lefort's theory of democracy. Though accused of not being democratic, Badiou's theory in a certain sense presupposes democracy & even deepens it, yet not the democracy of today, the democracy of consensus, but a democracy that is not based on exclusion. Through the comparison of Badious's & Deleuze's critiques of representation, the author shows some consequences of Badiou's starting-point that "people think" for the conceptualization of the community, equality, & universality. Adapted from the source document.

In this paper, the author gives a detailed critical discussion of the conditions of possibility of the politics &/or ethics of enjoyment such as that conceived by Sade. She begins by discussing the hypothesis advanced by a set of eminent interpretations of Sade's work according to which there is an irreducible antagonism between disruptive passions & social bonds. The central theme of this essay -- that society is rooted in the imperative of enjoyment -- is elaborated on. As a consequence of this discussion, the author turns to the question of the evil inherent to enjoyment. She concludes that the entire project of the politics & ethics of enjoyment is centered on the deculpabilization of passions & enjoyment since, in Sade, the evilness of enjoyment is imputed to Nature. It could thus be said, argues the author, that Nature is Sade's "symptom," denouncing in this way that Sade, the theorist of enjoyment, is unable &/or unwilling to assume the evilness of enjoyment. Adapted from the source document.

Through his analysis of classical sources, the author finds no convincing grounds for understanding the myth of Europe as the foundational myth of the modern political & cultural entity that calls itself Europe. In this Europe, however, it is widely believed that Greek myth is the European foundational myth. By taking over Greek & Roman interpretations of the myth of Europe as a love story, & the adjunct eroticizing & banalizing the rape of Europe, rape has become a constitutive element of European identity. Adapted from the source document.

The author poses the question of whether it is possible to say, contrary to common agreement, that Hegel's political thought contains the elements of liberal political thought. She shows, through examination of The Elements of the Philosophy of Right, that Hegel's definition of an individual as a being of reason & as a free being at the same time points in the direction of liberalism & its preoccupation with the freedom & autonomy of the individual. Hegel's key emphasis, however, is that freedom of free choice already presupposes a choice already made, a forced choice of the frame of the free choice itself, which an individual has to take upon himself/herself. Adapted from the source document.

The "integration of Europe" is, among other things, a huge ideological undertaking. Part of that undertaking entails the appropriation of history for the political project of building a "European Union." One aspect of that appropriation of history is the rooting of Europe as a political community in historical times & places where Europe as such did not exist. Popular among such ideological constructs is presentation of the Carolingian Empire as the predecessor of contemporary, united Europe. By analyzing early medieval usages of the word Europe, the author argues that it is unwarranted to speak of any clear "idea of Europe," in the Carolingian period or, in turn, to portray the Carolingian Empire as the "first Europe" & a potential model for today's "integration of Europe.". Adapted from the source document.

The great restructuring of power in the Christian West at the beginning of the second millennium did not change the meaning of the notion of Europe as inherited from the previous two centuries. Rather, it brought forth new concepts to describe the unity of Western Christians, thus marginalizing "Europe" as a potential bearer of collective identity. Foremost among those new unitary concepts was Christendom -- a concept closely linked with the rise of the papal monarchy & the launching of the First Crusade as the pope's own war. By analyzing 11th-century sources & literature connected with the First Crusade, the author shows that the term Europe -- used merely in its geographical sense or in connection with the ancient myth of Europa & the legend of Japheth -- had little relevance for the practical & spiritual concerns of that age. Adapted from the source document.