The fantasy of congruency: The Abbé Sieyès and the ‘nation-state’ problématique revisited

This article offers an alternative reading of the Abbé Sieyès and the modern ‘nation-state’ problématique. I argue that the subject/object that is constituted in the early days of modernity is the incomplete society: an impossible-possibility ideal of congruency of population, authority and space. I...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Philosophy & social criticism 2016-03, Vol.42 (3), p.246-266
Main Author: Mandelbaum, Moran M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:This article offers an alternative reading of the Abbé Sieyès and the modern ‘nation-state’ problématique. I argue that the subject/object that is constituted in the early days of modernity is the incomplete society: an impossible-possibility ideal of congruency of population, authority and space. I suggest reading this ideal of congruency as a fantasy in that it offers a certain ‘fullness to come’, the promise of jouissance that can never be attained and is thus constantly re-envisioned and reinvoked. Drawing on discourse-analytical and psychoanalytical tools I explain the logic of fantasy before analysing Sieyès’ What is the Third Estate?, as I show how he critiques and fragments the old model of the state and how his reading of the nation is fantasmatic, a continuous project towards impossible congruency.
ISSN:0191-4537
1461-734X
DOI:10.1177/0191453715617503