Benoit Challand | New School for Social Research (original) (raw)
Books by Benoit Challand
In Imagining Europe, Chiara Bottici and Benoît Challand explore the formation of modern European ... more In Imagining Europe, Chiara Bottici and Benoît Challand explore the formation of modern European identity. Europe has not always been there, although we have been imagining it for quite some time. Even after the birth of a polity called the European Union, the meaning of Europe remained a very much contested topic. What is Europe? What are its boundaries? Is there a specific European identity or is the EU just the name for a group of institutions? This book answers these questions, showing that in Europe's formation, myth and memory, although distinct, are often merged in a common attempt to construct an identity for its present and its future. In a time when Europe is facing an existential crisis, when its meaning is being questioned, Imagining Europe explores a vital and often unacknowledged aspect of the European project.
The politics of imagination BOTTICI Chiara.
The Myth of the Clash of Civilizations. ...
Papers by Benoit Challand
La haine, cette (violente) muse « La haine est sainte. Elle est l'indignation des coeurs forts et... more La haine, cette (violente) muse « La haine est sainte. Elle est l'indignation des coeurs forts et puissants, le dédain militant de ceux que fâchent la médiocrité et la sottise. Haïr c'est aimer, c'est sentir son âme chaude et généreuse, c'est vivre largement du mépris des choses honteuses et bêtes. La haine soulage, la haine fait justice, la haine grandit.» Émile Zola, Mes haines, 1866 Une "sainte" haine ? Une haine positive, performative, sûrement. Une haine digne. C'est de celle-ci que je voudrais parler ici. De quoi s'agit-il exactement ? A peine d'un sentiment, tout au plus une sensation, une impression diffuse d'injustice, un cri. « Au commencement était le cri. Nous crions. […] Nous commençons par la négation, la dissonance. La dissonance peut revêtir de multiples formes : un murmure inarticulé de mécontentement, des larmes de frustration, un cri de colère, un rugissement sûr de lui, un trouble profond, un profond désir, une vibration critique. 1 » Ce cri prend parfois la force de l'évidence, lorsque, dans une dialectique avec la violence brute de l'ordre, il s'exprime comme il peut : dans la violence. Parler de la haine invite à poser la question, centrale s'il en est, des rapports entre politique et violence. Non pas dans un registre moral, de savoir si la violence est ou non légitime, s'il faut voter Guevara ou Gandhi. En posant la 1
A contrario, 2008
La reproduction ou représentation de cet article, notamment par photocopie, n'est autorisée que d... more La reproduction ou représentation de cet article, notamment par photocopie, n'est autorisée que dans les limites des conditions générales d'utilisation du site ou, le cas échéant, des conditions générales de la licence souscrite par votre établissement. Toute autre reproduction ou représentation, en tout ou partie, sous quelque forme et de quelque manière que ce soit, est interdite sauf accord préalable et écrit de l'éditeur, en dehors des cas prévus par la législation en vigueur en France. Il est précisé que son stockage dans une base de données est également interdit.
Libertarian Socialism
For many, the French group Socialisme ou Barbarie remains associated with the name of the politic... more For many, the French group Socialisme ou Barbarie remains associated with the name of the political theorist and psychoanalyst Cornelius Castoriadis (1922-1997). While Castoriadis played a pivotal role in the group, it also included a number of other prominent intellectuals over the course of its publishing lifetime, such as Claude Lefort (1924-2010), Jean-Francois Lyotard (1924-1998) and Guy Debord (1931-1994). The group’s eponymous journal, published between 1949 and 1965, was dedicated to an increasingly unorthodox Trotskyist critique and it provided an important platform for debating Marxism with other strands of the ultra-Left, some of them closely associated with Left-libertarian thinking. One line of division inside the group discussed here (though to be sure, there are many others to analyse) was based on divergent views about the model of organisation and the place to be given to ideas of spontaneous self-organisation within the working class, which was influenced by precisely this Left-libertarian thinking. These issues were particularly contentious for the group and this essay will unpack the reasons why, and why they caused so many splits within SouB.1 The primary aim of the chapter is to show that despite Castoriadis’s evident legacy of Left-libertarian thinking and his radical break with orthodox Marxist-Leninism, these splits owe most to Castoriadis’s original attachment to Trotskyist vanguardism. In the long run, as this chapter will illustrate, these ideological and organisational splits impeded any convergence between critical Marxism and Council Communism — Council Communism here understood as the closest SouB came to radical Left-libertarian thinking during its lifetime.
Myth, Memory, and Identity, 2013
Myth, Memory, and Identity, 2013
Сборник по результатам XLIV заочной научной конференции International Research Journal. За достов... more Сборник по результатам XLIV заочной научной конференции International Research Journal. За достоверность сведений, изложенных в статьях, ответственность несут авторы. Журнал имеет свободный доступ, это означает, что статьи можно читать, загружать, копировать, распространять, печатать и ссылаться на их полные тексты с указанием авторства без каких либо ограничений. Тип лицензии CC поддерживаемый журналом: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Номер свидетельства о регистрации в Федеральной Службе по надзору в сфере связи, информационных технологий и массовых коммуникаций: ПИ № ФС 77-51217.
Myth, Memory, and Identity, 2013
We live in an “age of memory” (Nora 2002), in which the “politics of regret” is commonplace. In t... more We live in an “age of memory” (Nora 2002), in which the “politics of regret” is commonplace. In the previous chapter, we analyzed the role that collective remembrance played in the construction of a minimal core of European identity, with a focus mainly on Western Europe. There, we highlighted acts of collective remembrance for the Second World War. How have things changed after the 2004 and 2007 enlargements? Is post-enlargement Europe still united by its memory? Is Europe the same when seen from an Eastern or Western perspective? Has the expansion of the European Union (EU) created conducive conditions for the emergence of a shared “politics of regret” across the whole continent? To speak in terms of “East-West” establishes the problematic dichotomy that evokes the different historical realities and trajectories of Europe. The 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall was a turning point for a “reunified” Europe but also cast a long shadow on Europe. Continuing to speak in these dichotomous terms clearly illustrates that the Cold War division continues to permeate the mindset of most (Western) Europeans. Not surprisingly, European citizens of the former Soviet bloc prefer to speak of “Central and Eastern Europe” to evoke internal differences within the former Comecon zone. In this chapter, we try to problematize this difference through a discussion of divided memories but, given the path dependency from the Cold War period, the phrase “East-West” is used consciously here, precisely to refer to such long-term influences.
In Imagining Europe, Chiara Bottici and Benoît Challand explore the formation of modern European ... more In Imagining Europe, Chiara Bottici and Benoît Challand explore the formation of modern European identity. Europe has not always been there, although we have been imagining it for quite some time. Even after the birth of a polity called the European Union, the meaning of Europe remained a very much contested topic. What is Europe? What are its boundaries? Is there a specific European identity or is the EU just the name for a group of institutions? This book answers these questions, showing that in Europe's formation, myth and memory, although distinct, are often merged in a common attempt to construct an identity for its present and its future. In a time when Europe is facing an existential crisis, when its meaning is being questioned, Imagining Europe explores a vital and often unacknowledged aspect of the European project.
The politics of imagination BOTTICI Chiara.
The Myth of the Clash of Civilizations. ...
La haine, cette (violente) muse « La haine est sainte. Elle est l'indignation des coeurs forts et... more La haine, cette (violente) muse « La haine est sainte. Elle est l'indignation des coeurs forts et puissants, le dédain militant de ceux que fâchent la médiocrité et la sottise. Haïr c'est aimer, c'est sentir son âme chaude et généreuse, c'est vivre largement du mépris des choses honteuses et bêtes. La haine soulage, la haine fait justice, la haine grandit.» Émile Zola, Mes haines, 1866 Une "sainte" haine ? Une haine positive, performative, sûrement. Une haine digne. C'est de celle-ci que je voudrais parler ici. De quoi s'agit-il exactement ? A peine d'un sentiment, tout au plus une sensation, une impression diffuse d'injustice, un cri. « Au commencement était le cri. Nous crions. […] Nous commençons par la négation, la dissonance. La dissonance peut revêtir de multiples formes : un murmure inarticulé de mécontentement, des larmes de frustration, un cri de colère, un rugissement sûr de lui, un trouble profond, un profond désir, une vibration critique. 1 » Ce cri prend parfois la force de l'évidence, lorsque, dans une dialectique avec la violence brute de l'ordre, il s'exprime comme il peut : dans la violence. Parler de la haine invite à poser la question, centrale s'il en est, des rapports entre politique et violence. Non pas dans un registre moral, de savoir si la violence est ou non légitime, s'il faut voter Guevara ou Gandhi. En posant la 1
A contrario, 2008
La reproduction ou représentation de cet article, notamment par photocopie, n'est autorisée que d... more La reproduction ou représentation de cet article, notamment par photocopie, n'est autorisée que dans les limites des conditions générales d'utilisation du site ou, le cas échéant, des conditions générales de la licence souscrite par votre établissement. Toute autre reproduction ou représentation, en tout ou partie, sous quelque forme et de quelque manière que ce soit, est interdite sauf accord préalable et écrit de l'éditeur, en dehors des cas prévus par la législation en vigueur en France. Il est précisé que son stockage dans une base de données est également interdit.
Libertarian Socialism
For many, the French group Socialisme ou Barbarie remains associated with the name of the politic... more For many, the French group Socialisme ou Barbarie remains associated with the name of the political theorist and psychoanalyst Cornelius Castoriadis (1922-1997). While Castoriadis played a pivotal role in the group, it also included a number of other prominent intellectuals over the course of its publishing lifetime, such as Claude Lefort (1924-2010), Jean-Francois Lyotard (1924-1998) and Guy Debord (1931-1994). The group’s eponymous journal, published between 1949 and 1965, was dedicated to an increasingly unorthodox Trotskyist critique and it provided an important platform for debating Marxism with other strands of the ultra-Left, some of them closely associated with Left-libertarian thinking. One line of division inside the group discussed here (though to be sure, there are many others to analyse) was based on divergent views about the model of organisation and the place to be given to ideas of spontaneous self-organisation within the working class, which was influenced by precisely this Left-libertarian thinking. These issues were particularly contentious for the group and this essay will unpack the reasons why, and why they caused so many splits within SouB.1 The primary aim of the chapter is to show that despite Castoriadis’s evident legacy of Left-libertarian thinking and his radical break with orthodox Marxist-Leninism, these splits owe most to Castoriadis’s original attachment to Trotskyist vanguardism. In the long run, as this chapter will illustrate, these ideological and organisational splits impeded any convergence between critical Marxism and Council Communism — Council Communism here understood as the closest SouB came to radical Left-libertarian thinking during its lifetime.
Myth, Memory, and Identity, 2013
Myth, Memory, and Identity, 2013
Сборник по результатам XLIV заочной научной конференции International Research Journal. За достов... more Сборник по результатам XLIV заочной научной конференции International Research Journal. За достоверность сведений, изложенных в статьях, ответственность несут авторы. Журнал имеет свободный доступ, это означает, что статьи можно читать, загружать, копировать, распространять, печатать и ссылаться на их полные тексты с указанием авторства без каких либо ограничений. Тип лицензии CC поддерживаемый журналом: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Номер свидетельства о регистрации в Федеральной Службе по надзору в сфере связи, информационных технологий и массовых коммуникаций: ПИ № ФС 77-51217.
Myth, Memory, and Identity, 2013
We live in an “age of memory” (Nora 2002), in which the “politics of regret” is commonplace. In t... more We live in an “age of memory” (Nora 2002), in which the “politics of regret” is commonplace. In the previous chapter, we analyzed the role that collective remembrance played in the construction of a minimal core of European identity, with a focus mainly on Western Europe. There, we highlighted acts of collective remembrance for the Second World War. How have things changed after the 2004 and 2007 enlargements? Is post-enlargement Europe still united by its memory? Is Europe the same when seen from an Eastern or Western perspective? Has the expansion of the European Union (EU) created conducive conditions for the emergence of a shared “politics of regret” across the whole continent? To speak in terms of “East-West” establishes the problematic dichotomy that evokes the different historical realities and trajectories of Europe. The 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall was a turning point for a “reunified” Europe but also cast a long shadow on Europe. Continuing to speak in these dichotomous terms clearly illustrates that the Cold War division continues to permeate the mindset of most (Western) Europeans. Not surprisingly, European citizens of the former Soviet bloc prefer to speak of “Central and Eastern Europe” to evoke internal differences within the former Comecon zone. In this chapter, we try to problematize this difference through a discussion of divided memories but, given the path dependency from the Cold War period, the phrase “East-West” is used consciously here, precisely to refer to such long-term influences.
The evolution of the Palestinian leadership (1993-2007). DSpace/Manakin Repository. ...
Religione e territorio in un mondo post-moderno. Sui paradossi dell'odierno rapporto tra i c... more Religione e territorio in un mondo post-moderno. Sui paradossi dell'odierno rapporto tra i confini nazionali el'identità religiosa. DSpace/Manakin Repository. ...
Le développement, une affaire d’ONG?, 2012
Background: In humans, skipping meals, especially breakfast, has been associated with obesity and... more Background: In humans, skipping meals, especially breakfast, has been associated with obesity and other related syndromes. Recent studies in rodents suggest that fasting and feeding times are potential factors that affect the peripheral circadian clocks and metabolism. However, the link between fasting and obesity in rodents has yet to be fully demonstrated. Method: We conducted early nocturnal fasting (ENF) from zeitgeber time (ZT) 12 to 18 for 4 consecutive days in C57B6 mice. The first set of experiments was performed under ad libitum conditions, where ENF and free-feeding (FF) control groups were compared. The second set was performed under isocaloric adjustment by restricting the diet to 90% of the basal intake of ENF mice. Calorie-restricted ENF (ENF-CR) mice were then compared with isocaloric controls (IC-control). Body weight, food intake, core body temperature, activity, adiposity, and clock-related gene expression levels in the liver and adipose tissues were investigated. A stable isotopic analysis was also conducted to estimate de novo lipogenesis fluxes. Results: In the ad libitum condition, the ENF mice ate more during the day, increased their overall daily food intake and gained more weight than FF-control mice. The amplitude of the body core temperature rhythm in ENF mice was also lower than in the FF-controls. Under isocaloric conditions, ENF-CR attenuated the CR-induced body weight loss, compared with the IC-control. ENF-CR also altered the acrophase time of the expression of the clock genes, which is associated with time-shift of genes involved in lipid metabolism and increased lipogenesis, compared with the IC-control. Conclusions: ENF in nocturnal mice disturbs the peripheral clock and increases de novo lipid synthesis and results in a predisposition to obesity.
Contemporary Arab Affairs
This paper provides an historical exploration of local governance in Yemen across the past sixty ... more This paper provides an historical exploration of local governance in Yemen across the past sixty years. It highlights the presence of a strong tradition of local self-rule, self-help, and participation “from below” as well as the presence of a rival, official, political culture upheld by central elites that celebrates centralization and the strong state. Shifts in the predominance of one or the other tendency have coincided with shifts in the political economy of the Yemeni state(s). When it favored the local, central rulers were compelled to give space to local initiatives and Yemen experienced moments of political participation and local development.
Department of Political Science, McGill University, Montréal, Canada; e-mail: rex.brynen@mcgill.ca
Perspective on Politiics 7(3), Sep 2009
Journal of Palestine Studies (Arabic version, Winter 2011, 22(85), 165-8).
International Sociology Review of Books 26(5) 2011
Journal of Islamic Studies, Jun 2011
In a time when many observers tend to reduce the Middle East to a mosaic of ethnicities and to a ... more In a time when many observers tend to reduce the Middle East to a mosaic of ethnicities and to a region based on or over-determined by religious identities, Daniel Meier's book is a welcome antidote to these homogenizing views of the region. His interdisciplinary study of ...
As is well known, the amount of aid given by international donors both to Israel and to the occup... more As is well known, the amount of aid given by international donors both to Israel and to the occupied Palestinian Territories (oPt) is unparalleled in the world, but the fact that people can turn violent against their own CSOs trying to promote reconciliation speaks abundantly about the resentment that external aid can generate. Studying the nexus EU-civil society-Palestinian-Israeli conflict cannot therefore be done without a general overview of the particular setting in which aid for conflict transformation takes place. This report is articulated in four parts. The paper first briefly discusses the nature of the conflict and recent trends in its development, affecting, inter alia, the domestic context in which civil society operates. It then looks at the EU's involvement in the conflict and presents the tools that the EU uses in its support for civil society. Moving on, it analyses the impact and effectiveness of Israeli and Palestinian civil societies (with a view on CSO typologies and activities) and suggests why the effectiveness of civil society has remained limited. Finally the paper deals with the EU's impact and the role of EU-funded programmes supporting civil society involvement in conflict transformation, testing the different hypotheses outlined in the guiding report issued for this work package.
R o b e r t S c h u m a n C e n t r e f o r A d v a n c e d S t u d i e s Mediterranean Programme... more R o b e r t S c h u m a n C e n t r e f o r A d v a n c e d S t u d i e s Mediterranean Programme Series Abstract This paper offers an alternative approach to civil society by stressing the potential tension that might arise in the case of transnational civil society promotion. It analyses the historical evolution of the category of international donors, their ways of conceiving of civil society promotion in the case of the Palestinian territories and the way aid is given to local NGOs. It demonstrates that donors are far from being a homogenous category and that, despite the increasingly professionalized apparatus behind civil society promotion, donors' visions of civil society might actually be one of the reasons for the difficult democratisation of the Arab countries.
Looking Beyond the Pale: International Donors And Civil Society Promotion in Palestine. DSpace/Ma... more Looking Beyond the Pale: International Donors And Civil Society Promotion in Palestine. DSpace/Manakin Repository. Search Cadmus. Search Cadmus This Collection. Advanced Search. Browse. ...
Sixth Mediterranean Social and Political Research …, 2005
The European Union, Civil Society and Conflict, 2011
Page 115. 5 Coming too late? The EU's mixed approaches to transforming the IsraeliPales... more Page 115. 5 Coming too late? The EU's mixed approaches to transforming the IsraeliPalestinian conflict through civil society Benoît Challand Introduction Yesh Gvul ('There is a limit') is an Israeli peace group which campaigns ...
Gulf Charities and Islamic Philanthropy in the “Age of Terror” and Beyond, Mar 2014
Third Mediterranean Social and Political Research …, 2002
Law, State and Religion in the New Europe: Debates and Dilemmas, 2012
Libertarian Socialism. Politics in Black and Red (Palgrave, London), 2012