In this review, I discuss Balibar’s ‘proposition of equaliberty’ with regard to its theoretical status and contribution, its relationship to other contemporary theories of radical democracy as well as to the problematic of bourgeois versus communist emancipation in Marx. The primary interest of this essay is to develop a detailed understanding of Balibar’s analytical schema, which draws a complex picture of our contemporary ‘human condition’, and to place it within his own theoretical development since his contribution toReading Capitalin the 60s. (...) On that basis, it will be possible to assess his contribution to thinking politics with and after Marx and place it more concretely within the generalised radical-democratic turn in post-Marxist theory. (shrink)

This article maps the emergent field of Islamophobia Studies through a discussion of recently published monographs, representing the broad spectrum of theoretical and analytical approaches to the phenomenon. Strengths and deficiencies in recent works of Nathan Lean, Deepa Kumar, Chris Allen, David Tyrer and Anne Norton are discussed. I argue that in different ways, a more thorough engagement with critical and Marxist theories of racism could contribute to a more accurate understanding of the phenomenon. This, however, is predicated on recognising (...) and theorising Islamophobia as racism – albeit one ‘without races’ – and a discussion about its differences from and similarities to other kinds of racism. (shrink)