Highly Speculative Reasoning on the Concept of DemocracyfromMetapolitcs , New York: Verso, 2005Whenandunder what conditions canwesay that anevent ispolitical !o what e"tent is the#what is happenin$# happenin$politicallyWe propose that an event is political, and that the procedure whichit employs reveals a political truth, under certain conditions% !heseconditions are attached to the su&'ect of the event, to in(nity, to therelationship to the state of the situation, and to the numeration ofthe procedure%)% *n event is political if the su&'ect of this event is collective, or ifthe event is not attri&uta&le to anythin$ other than the multiplicityof a collective% #+ollective# is not a numerical concept here% We saythat theevent isontolo$icallycollectiveinasmuchasthiseventconveys a virtual re,uirement of the all% #+ollective# is immediatelyuniversali-in$%!hee.ectivenessofthepolitical emer$esfrom theassertion accordin$ to which #for every ", there is thou$ht%#/y the word #thou$ht,# 0 denote any procedure of truth understoodas su&'ectivity 1prise en subjectivit2% #!hou$ht# is the name of thesu&'ect of aprocedureof truth% Wethus reco$ni-ethat, if thisthou$ht is political, the all is inferred throu$h the word #collective%#0t isnot, asforothertypesof truth, onlya,uestionof address%+ertainly every truth is addressed to the all% /ut in the case of thepolitical, universality is intrinsic, and not 'ust directed% 3or the all, inthe political, there is at each moment the possi&le disen$a$ement ofthethou$ht whichidenti(esthesu&'ect% Wecall thosewhoareconstituted as su&'ects of a political stance the militants of theprocedure% /ut militant is a cate$ory without &oundaries, asu&'ective determination without identity, or without concept% !hatthe political event &e collective prescri&es that the all are virtuallymilitants of thethou$ht whichproceedsfromtheevent% 0nthissense, the political is the only procedure of truth which is $eneric,not only in its result, &ut also in the local composition of its su&'ect%)4nly the political is intrinsically re,uired to declare that the thou$htthat it is, is the thou$ht of the all% 0t has an or$anic need for thisdeclaration% !hemathematician, fore"ample, onlyneedsanothermathematician to reco$ni-e that his demonstration is withoutlacunae% 5ove only needs the assumption of two to assure itself ofthe thou$ht that it is% !he artist needs no one% 6cience, art, love areprocedures of aristocratic truth% +ertainly, they are addressed to theall and universali-e their sin$ularity% /ut they are not in the re$imeofthecollective%!he political is impossi&le without the statementthat people, takenindistinctly, arecapa&leof thethou$ht whichconstitutesthepolitical su&'ect of thepost7event% !hisstatementreveals that a political thou$ht is topolo$ically collective, whichmeans that it can only e"ist as a thou$ht of the all%!hat the central activity of the political should &e runion is a localmetonymyof itsintrinsicallycollective, thusprincipallyuniversal,&ein$%2% !he collective character of the political event has the e.ect thatthepolitical presents, assuch, thein(nitecharacterofsituations%!hepolitical e"hi&its or convokesthein(nityof thesituation% *llpolitics of emancipation refutes (nitude, refutes #&ein$ for death%#6ince a political situation includes the thou$ht of the all, it proceedsto elicit the su&'ective in(nity of situations%4f course every situation is ontolo$ically in(nite% /ut only thepolitical convokes this in(nity immediately, as su&'ectiveuniversality%6cience, for e"ample, is created from the void and from in(nity &ytheletter% 0tisnotatall concernedwiththesu&'ectivein(nityofsituations% *rt presents impressions in the (nitude of a work8 it is themodel of (niteproduction, andin(nitydoesnotintervenee"ceptinasmuch as the artist portrays in(nity in the (nite% !he political, onthe contrary, is what treats in(nity as such under the principle of thesame, orthee$alitarianprinciple% 0tisitspointof departure: thesituation is open, never closed, and its immanent su&'ective in(niteis the la&or of the possi&le% We could say that the numeration of thepolitical procedure has the in(nite as its (rst term% 3or love the (rstterm is the one8 for science, the void8 for art, a (nite num&er% 0n(nityintervenes in every procedure of truth, &ut it is in the (rst2position only in the political &ecause only there is the process itselfthedeli&erationonthepossi&le1andthusonthein(nityof thesituation2%9% 3inally, what is the relationship of the political to the state of thesituation, moreparticularlytothe6tate, inthesenseofthetermsimultaneously ontolo$ical and historical!hestateofthesituationistheoperationwhich, inthesituation,codi(esits parts,its su&sets%!he state isa sortofmetastructurewhich has the power to count over all the su&sets of the situation%:very situation admits a state% :very situation is a presentation ofitself, of what composes it, of what &elon$s to it% /ut it is also $ivenas a state of the situation, that is to say as internal con($uration ofits parts or su&sets, and thus as re7presentation% 0n particular, thestate of the situation re7presents collective situations since, in thesecollective situations, the sin$ularities are not re7presented, &utrather presented% 0 refer on this point to L'tre etl'venement 1meditation ;2% )* fundamental $ivenin ontolo$y isthat thestateof thesituationalwayse"ceedsthesituationitself% !herearealwaysmorepartsthan elements8 the representative multiplicity is of the type alwayssuperior to the presentative multiplicity% !his ,uestion is in fact thatof power% !he power of the 6tate is always superior to that of thesituation% !he 6tate, and thus also the economy, which is today thenormof the 6tate, are characteri-ed &y a structural e.ect ofseparation and of e"cess power in relation to what is simplypresented in the situation%We could show, mathematically, that this e"cess is not measura&le%!hereisnoresponsetothe,uestionof knowin$howmuchthepower of the 6tate e"ceeds the individual, of how much the power ofrepresentation e"ceeds that of simple presentation% !here issomethin$ errant in this e"cess% !he simplest e"perience ofrelationship to the 6tate shows, moreover, that one can relate to itwithout ever &ein$a&letoassi$nameasuretoits power% !herepresentationof the6tatethrou$hpower, inthecaseof pu&licpower, indicates on the one hand its e"cess, and on the other theindeterminacy, or errancy, of this e"cess%9We all know that the political, when it e"ists, insti$atesmanifestationsofthepowerofthe6tate% 0tisevident in thatthepolitical iscollective, andthusuniversallyconcerns parts of thesituation, which is the (eld of e"istence of the state of the situation%!he political7and it is the only procedure of truth to do it directly7convokes the power of the 6tate% !he ordinary ($ure of thisconvocationisthat thepolitical alwayscoincideswithrepression%/ut repression, which is the empirical form of the errant e"cess ofthe 6tate, is not the essential point%!he true characteristic of the political event and of the procedure oftruthwhichitactivatesisthatapolitical event("estheerrancy,assi$ns a measure to the e"cess power of the 6tate, ("es the powerof the6tate% *saconse,uence, thepolitical eventinterruptsthesu&'ective errancy of the power of the 6tate% 0t constructs the stateof thesituation% 0t $ivesit shape8 it $ivesshapetoitspower, itmeasures its power%:mpirically this means that when there is a truly political event, the6tateshows itself% 0t shows its e"cess of power, therepressivedimension% /ut it showsalsoameasureof thise"cesswhichinordinary times does not let itself &e seen &ecause it is essential tothenormal functionin$ofthe6tatethatitspowerremainwithoutmeasure, errant, unassi$na&le% !he political event puts an end to allthat &y assi$nin$ a visi&le measure to the e"cessive power of the6tate%!hepolitical putsthe6tateat adistance, inthedistanceof itsmeasure% !heapathyof non7political timeis maintained&ythe6tate