The Political Illusion

Are all governments—east and west, Muslim and secular, authoritarian and constitutional, Republican and Democratic—fundamentally the same, all of them under the extraordinary, growing power of “technique” and bureaucracy? Is all politics, then, just an illusory affair of lies, deception, propaganda, partisan passions, and chaos on the surface of government and party? In his vast and penetrating writings, Bordeaux sociologist Jacques Ellul (1912–1994) points in those directions. Political Illusion and Reality is a collection of twenty-three essays on Ellul’s political thought. Veteran as well as younger Ellul scholars, political leaders, activists, and pastors, discuss aspects of Ellul’s thought as they relate to their own fields of study and political experience. Beginning with his 1936 essay “Fascism, Son of Liberalism,” translated and published here in English for the first time, Ellul and these authors will provoke readers to think some new thoughts about politics and government, and think more deeply about the main issues we face in our politically divided and troubled times.

"What is politization? . . . (It is that) all problems have, in our time, become political." --J. Ellul, from the Introduction Jacques Ellul, the author of The Technological Society and Propaganda, here examines modern man's passion for politics, the roles he plays in them, and his place in the modern state. He holds that everything having now been "politized," anything not directly political fails to arouse widespread interest among contemporary men--and in fact might be said not to exist. He shows that political activity is now a kaleidoscope of interlocking illusions, among which the most basic and damaging are those of popular participation in government, popular control of elected and other officials, and popular solution of public problems. This domination by the political illusion, Ellul demonstrates, explains why men now turn to the state for the solution of all problems--most of them problems that the state could not solve if it tried. This close-reasoned, brilliant diagnosis and prognosis is, like Jacques Ellul's earlier books, an alarming analysis of present-day life.

"Elegant, deeply learned, and intellectually adventurous, its implications extend far beyond the boundaries of the Stuart and Caroline masque. It is an indispensable, exploration of political art and aestheticized politics. . . . a classic."--Stephen Greenblatt, University of California, Berkeley "A triumph of scholarship, insight, and explication, Oregel's book is truly a classic in the field of Renaissance studies. Anyone interested in Renaissance culture will find here a masterful analysis of its celebration of royal power."--Coppelia Kahn, Brown University "As knowing of art, theatrical and political history as it is sensitive to poetry, Orgel's book is learned, lively, and beautifully clear."--John Hollander, Yale University "A foundational text for the New Historicist Perspective in English Renaissance literary and cultural studies . . . as informative and suggestive as it was when new; in the clarity and grace of its writing, the breadth and precision of its arguments, the aptness and resonance of its examples, it is unsurpassed as an introduction to the dialectic of theatrical illusion and state authority--of play and power--in the culture of Elizabethan and Stuart England."--Louis Montrose, University of California, San Diego

Are all governments--east and west, Muslim and secular, authoritarian and constitutional, Republican and Democratic--fundamentally the same, all of them under the extraordinary, growing power of "technique" and bureaucracy? Is all politics, then, just an illusory affair of lies, deception, propaganda, partisan passions, and chaos on the surface of government and party? In his vast and penetrating writings, Bordeaux sociologist Jacques Ellul (1912-1994) points in those directions. Political Illusion and Reality is a collection of twenty-three essays on Ellul's political thought. Veteran as well as younger Ellul scholars, political leaders, activists, and pastors, discuss aspects of Ellul's thought as they relate to their own fields of study and political experience. Beginning with his 1936 essay "Fascism, Son of Liberalism," translated and published here in English for the first time, Ellul and these authors will provoke readers to think some new thoughts about politics and government, and think more deeply about the main issues we face in our politically divided and troubled times.

The distinguished political philosopher Raymond Geuss examines critically the central topics in Western political thought. In a series of analytic chapters he discusses the state, authority, violence and coercion, the concept of legitmacy, liberalism, toleration, freedom, democracy, and human rights. He argues that the liberal democratic state committed to the defense of human rights is in fact a confused conjunction of disparate elements. This is a profound and concise essay on the basic structure of contemporary politics, written throughout in voice that is skeptical, engaged, and clear.

The theory of deliberative democracy promotes the creation of systems of governance in which citizens actively exchange ideas, engage in debate, and create laws that are responsive to their interests and aspirations. While deliberative processes are being adopted in an increasing number of cases, decision-making power remains mostly in the hands of traditional elites. In Democratic Illusion, Genevieve Fuji Johnson examines four representative examples: participatory budgeting in the Toronto Community Housing Corporation, Deliberative Polling by Nova Scotia Power Incorporated, a national consultation process by the Canadian Nuclear Waste Management Organization, and public consultations embedded in the development of official languages policies in Nunavut. In each case, measures that appeared to empower the public failed to challenge the status quo approach to either formulating or implementing policy. Illuminating a critical gap between deliberative democratic theory and its applications, this timely and important study shows what needs to be done to ensure deliberative processes offer more than the illusion of democracy.