Le totalitarisme est-il une notion idéologique ? La réponse de Zizek

The purpose of this paper is to show, via an analysis of Zizek’s thought, that the concept of totalitarianism, used to define regimes as diverse as Nazism and Stalinism, is far more problematic than it might seem initially. The labeling of political realities as varied as communist regimes and Nazism as totalitarian implies a precise meaning and function which has, from the time it was used by Hanna Arendt, consisted in the delegitimization of all criticism issuing from the left-wing of liberal democracies. To that effect, the Zizekian analysis possesses precisely that function of exposing and dismantling the semantic and discursive mechanisms through which this concept operates, and of restoring the individual identities of both Nazism and Stalinism. We therefore attempt to demonstrate that the basic concepts of philosophy – such as, inter alia truth, freedom, justice, dignity – are treated differently within Nazism and Communism, thus preventing any overlap between the two regimes.