Siavash Peykar | Tilburg University (original) (raw)

Papers by Siavash Peykar

For the Primordial Liberal: What is the best argument in defense of a right to exclude would-be immigrants?, 2018

In this paper I will answer why the conception of Liberalism can justify the right to exclude wou... more In this paper I will answer why the conception of Liberalism can justify the right to exclude would-be immigrants. I will discuss the definition of Liberalism in Western societies, the arguments for excluding immigrants and the counterclaims of these arguments. My thesis is that is too radical to open borders and that Liberals would support a limited nation-building and allow a migration policy. It is necessary because citizens in a (national) community need a shared language, culture and institutions in which they can identify.

Post-Marxist Psychoanalysis and Politics, 2019

In this paper I will investigate the psychoanalytic concepts of Freud, Lacan and Žižek and try to... more In this paper I will investigate the psychoanalytic concepts of Freud, Lacan and Žižek and try to relate it with Politics. My aim is to expose the relation between the traumatic experience of the Real and the process of (collective) identification in Politics.

My thesis is that Politicians can create myths and fantasies in order to construct a ‘We’ or a collective identity for the subject(s). These myths and fantasies can establish a relation between the subject and Society or the Law of the Symbolic Order. However, we then neglect the presence of radical negativity of the subject. The subject is a split-subject and the subject is in itself a void. The Real is impossible to grasp and it is therefore impossible for the subject to achieve full (collective) identity. Therefore, myths and fantasies can be used and misused by Politicians in order to struggle for their political cause.

‘Zonder “wij” gaat het niet.’ – Paul Scheffer, Het land van aankomst (2007)

Maar het subject is op zichzelf een leegte, dus een “wij” is radicaal onmogelijk…

Of in ieder geval een schijnwerkelijkheid

Vormt klimaatverandering een enorme ethische-, filosofische-, politieke- en fysieke bedreiging vo... more Vormt klimaatverandering een enorme ethische-, filosofische-, politieke- en fysieke bedreiging voor de ‘hoax’ ontdekker?

Master Dissertation. Agonism: an alternative form of democracy where citizens affirm differences and pluralism, 2019

Political philosopher Chantal Mouffe has developed a political theory where she combined Post-Mar... more Political philosopher Chantal Mouffe has developed a political theory where she combined Post-Marxist thought and psychoanalytic theories as an alternative form of democracy. According to Mouffe, there can be no politics without hegemony; no hegemony without the hegemonic-and articulatory practices that create a Master-signifier in order to keep a political discourse together; no hegemonic-and articulatory practices without language and no subject, who is the split-subject and has a dimension of radical negativity, can escape language which means that there will always be a process of (collective) identification in order to constitute a collective ‘we’.

In this paper, I introduce and argue in favor of Chantal Mouffe’s political philosophy. This paper shows how the crisis in our Liberal-Democracy can be solved by introducing Mouffe’s alternative political theory called ‘agonism’. My central research question is: “Why do we need Agonism?” This paper will argue that antagonism reveals the limit of any rational consensus and full objectivity (Mouffe, 2013:3). The antagonistic dimension of the political is always present which means that conflicts can occur where citizens can show their passions. The problem of liberal- and rational consensus based politics is that they always think that a universal rational consensus is available and that they deny the affective dimension of every human being. It forgets that passions is one of the moving forces in the process of collective identification and therefore also in the field of politics.

A citizen does not only vote on a political party because it is in its own interests. Instead, the citizen votes because there is an affective dimension in voting because their question of identification is at stake (Mouffe, 20052:25). It is here that the current liberal rational theory is unable to understand the nature of the political. There is an affective dimension in the process of identification and antagonism cannot be eradicated. That is why we must sublimate antagonism in our current existing practices and institutions in order to tame antagonism, affirm differences and recognize the legitimacy of other citizens in the political community.

For this reason, we need to have agonistic democratic channels in institutions and practices where we allow citizens to dissent, show their passions, struggle for their interpretation on the principles of liberty and equality and where we will not eradicate antagonism, but tame it. Hence, there is room for differences and citizens would recognize other citizens as belonging to the same community because they can accept and identify with the rules of civil intercourse, but can compete in the shared symbolic space regarding their own interpretation on the principles of liberty and equality. As a result, it would acknowledge the antagonistic dimension of the political and the role of passions in politics.

Geschokt door de opmars van een nieuwe greep, keek de Westerse maatschappij machteloos naar de hu... more Geschokt door de opmars van een nieuwe greep, keek de Westerse maatschappij machteloos naar de huidige omstandigheden in Syrië. Syrië zit namelijk middenin een burgeroorlog. Althans, in de eerste maanden van de Arabische Lente. Want na enige protesten gebeurde er iets in Syrië wat in andere landen van de Arabische Lente niet gebeurde. De leider ging niet buiten spelen. Maar koos ervoor om binnen te blijven. Het gevolg? Een burgeroorlog werd een ‘proxy’ oorlog. En die ‘proxy’ oorlog leidde tot de opkomst van… Nee, niet de opkomst. Maar het uitbreiden van ISIS, Koerdische strijders en Al-Nusra. Anno 2015 zijn er ‘problemen’ in het Westen onder jongeren die de overstap maken om te gaan reizen naar Syrië. De vraag is alleen. Waarom?

Paper Enlightenment and Counter-Enlightenment, 2019

In the Post-Truth society, truth and facts have become less important than emotional persuasion. ... more In the Post-Truth society, truth and facts have become less important than emotional persuasion. These emotions can then be transposed into images that people want to believe by the Imaginary enterprise of the public-relations Managers. The goal of this paper is to clarify the role of the Imaginary Enterprise and the “image-making” process of the public-relation managers in Hannah Arendt’s Lying in Politics (1972). My central research question is: “Why is ‘image-making’ more important than truths for Politics and why can the battle for the people’s minds lead to deception according to Hannah Arendt?”

This paper will argue that the public-relation managers create an “Alice-in-Wonderland atmosphere” (Arendt, 1972:20) to deceive the people which can undermine reasonable decision-making. I argue that, according to Arendt in Lying in Politics (1972), the public-relation managers believe in two things:
1. politics is “image-making”
2. the art of making people believe in the images. (Arendt, 1972)
The desire of the public-relation managers is to create a specific state of mind by trying to change the subject’s mind-set by providing content that you should want or prefer to believe. However, this also allows the practice of deception in the service of “image-making”. (Lang & Williams, 2005:164)

Paper Populism and Active Citizenship, 2019

In many ways, 2016 was an important year in West-Europe. It was the year of the Brexit and Donald... more In many ways, 2016 was an important year in West-Europe. It was the year of the Brexit and Donald Trump winning the U.S. elections; hence, the “resurgence and spread of populism” (Gonzalez & Young, 2017:3). In this paper, I investigate the meaning of ‘populism’ and how the republican conception of democracy can contribute in addressing populism. My central research question is: “What is populism and what is the contribution of a republican conception of democracy in addressing populism?”.

My thesis is that ‘populism’ is a type of political mode of articulation that can extend the chain of equivalences when the institutions are not able to satisfy the demands, which is why the process of articulating an oppositional logic will start that focusses on constructing a unified political subject - ‘the people’ – against the ‘elite’ (Laclau, in Carreira da Silva, 2018:4-5). The populist leader that represents ‘the people’ opposes the dominating power of the ‘elite’ because there are a lot of social frustrations in the political society (Laclau, 2005:47). I will argue that, when the institutions are not able to satisfy the demands, the populist logic can grow significantly. As a result, citizens will not accept the legitimacy of the whole institutional system anymore. That is why the main task would be to organize the institutional model under conditions by making it non-arbitrary which includes a system of checks and balances where citizens are treated equally.