This book reveals aspects of the rise and fall of the European and Iranian Left, their conceptualization of Marxism and ideological formations. Questions regarding the Left and Marxism within two seemingly different economic, political and intellectual and cultural contexts require comprehensive comparative histories of the two settings. This project investigates the intellectual transformations, which the European and Iranian Left have experienced after the Russian Revolution to the present. It examines the impacts of these transformations on their conceptualizations of history and revolution, domination and ideology, emancipation and universality, democracy and equality. The monograph will appeal to researchers, scholars and graduate students in the fields of political science, Middle Eastern and European studies, political history and comparative politics.

The fall of the Berlin Wall marked the end of the Cold War but also the rise of a melancholic vision of history as a series of losses. For the political left, the cause lost was communism, and this trauma determined how leftists wrote the next chapter in their political struggle and how they have thought about their past since. Throughout the twentieth century, argues Left-Wing Melancholia, from classical Marxism to psychoanalysis to the advent of critical theory, a culture of defeat and its emotional overlay of melancholy have characterized the leftist understanding of the political in history and in theoretical critique. Drawing on a vast and diverse archive in theory, testimony, and image and on such thinkers as Karl Marx, Walter Benjamin, Theodor W. Adorno, and others, the intellectual historian Enzo Traverso explores the varying nature of left melancholy as it has manifested in a feeling of guilt for not sufficiently challenging authority, in a fear of surrendering in disarray and resignation, in mourning the human costs of the past, and in a sense of failure for not realizing utopian aspirations. Yet hidden within this melancholic tradition are the resources for a renewed challenge to prevailing regimes of historicity, a passion that has the power to reignite the dialectic of revolutionary thought.

This book addresses the ways in which the figure of the intellectuals and their relationship to the public has been theorized through the conceptualizations of bureaucracy, democracy, and communism as universal processes from the 19th century to the present. Starting with Hegel and Marx, the author looks at the rise of the figure of the universal intellectual in various forms, before turning to what is presented as a transformation of the figure of the intellectual into ‘the public intellectual’ advanced by the New Philosophies and the critical response offered by Edward Said. The study presents two comparative case studies: the Iranian Revolution and the public intellectuals in Europe, specifically in Norway, before concluding with a focus on the decay of the figure of the intellectuals and highlighting Ranciere’s critique of the intellectual/masses distinction.

A presentation of scholarly work that investigates Iran's experiences with colonialism and decolonization from a variety of perspectives. How did Iran’s unique position in the world affect and define its treatment of decolonization? During the final decades of Pahlavi rule in the late 1970s, the country sought to establish close relationships with newly independent counterparts in the Global South. Most scholarly work focused on this period is centered around the Cold War and Iran's relations with the United States, Russia, and Europe. Little attention has been paid to how the country interacted with other regions, such as Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Adding to an important and growing body of literature that discusses the profound and lasting impact of decolonization, Iran and Global Decolonisation contributes to the theoretical debates around the re-shaping of the world brought about by the end of an empire. It considers not only the impact of global decolonization on movements and ideas within Iran but also how Iran’s own experiences of imperialism shaped how these ideas were received and developed.

This volume unfolds the ebbs and flows of Muslim thought in different regions of the world, as well as the struggles between the different intellectual discourses that have surfaced against this backdrop. With a focus on Turkey, Egypt, Iran and the Indian subcontinent – regions that, in spite of their particular histories and forms of thought, are uniquely placed as a mosaic that illustrates the intertwined nature of the development of Muslim socio-political thought – it sheds light on the swing between right and left in different regions, the debates surrounding nationalism, the influence of socialism and liberalism, the rise of Islamism and the conflict between state bureaucracy and social movements. Exploring themes of civil society and democracy, it also considers current trends in Muslim thought and possible future directions. As such, it will appeal to scholars across the fields of sociology, anthropology, political science, history and political economy, as well as those with interests in the study of religion, the development of Muslim thought, and the transformation of Muslim societies in recent decades.

Ernesto Laclau is best known for co-authoring Hegemony and Socialist Strategy, with Chantal Mouffe. Politically active in the social and student movements of the 1960s, and a member of PSIN (Socialist Party of the National Left), Laclau’s oeuvre links the working class and new social movements. Rejecting Marxist economic determinism and the notion of class struggle, Laclau instead urged for a radical democracy where antagonisms could be expressed. Frequently described as post-Marxist, Laclau’s writings have focused on political movements. Politics and Ideology in Marxist Theory was Laclau’s first published work, where readers can trace the early formation of ideas that shaped the twentieth century.

Cultures of Uneven and Combined Development seeks to explore and develop Leon Trotsky’s concept of uneven and combined development. In particular, it aims to adapt the political and historical analysis which originated in Trotsky’s Russia for use within the contemporary field of world literature. As such, it draws together the work of scholars from both the field of international relations and the field of literature and the arts. This collection will therefore be of particular interest to anyone who is interested in new ways of understanding world literary texts, or interested in new ways of applying Trotsky’s revolutionary politics to the contemporary world order. Contributors: Alexander Anievas, Gail Day, James Christie, Kamran Matin, Kerem Nisancioglu, Luke Cooper, Michael Niblett, Neil Davidson, Nesrin Degirmencioglu, Robert Spencer, Steve Edwards.