The Spoils of Freedom - Psychoanalysis, Feminism and Ideology after the Fall of Socialism (Hardcover, Reissue)

This text examines the emergence of nationalist, racist and anti-feminist ideologies in post-socialist Eastern Europe. In a political context that includes ethnic wars, post-socialist totalitarianism, capitalist moral majority ideologies, and a virulent new patriarchy, this study asks what has become of the notions of democracy and human rights since the collapse of socialism. It also challenges the "political correctness" movement and western theoretical responses to the events which have occurred in former Communist countries. "The Spoils of Freedom" views major social and political change through contemporary theory. Using psychoanalytic, post-structuralist and feminist theories, Salecl argues that the success of the new nationalist and anti-liberal ideologies can be understood through the concept of fantasy, and the willingness of individuals to identify with the hidden fantasies embedded in political discourse. In doing so, she offers a new approach to human rights, feminism and other liberal theories grounded in her own active participation in the struggles against communism, nationalism and anti-feminism.