I studied Hannah Arendt for about half of last term, but this review/article in the London Review of Books really blew me away with its insight.
As Corey Robin, the writer, notes, Arendt is ascending to heretofore unthinkable heights of popularity and esteem among academics, but, as Robin goes on to say, for the wrong reasons, or rather, for misapplied reasons.
Arendt's work on totalitarianism is currently being used to talk a lot about so-called Islamofascism, and this review shows why that's a ridiculous idea. Islamism just isn't fascism unless "fascism" only means "worldview currently opposed by capitalist democracy." However, the two most important concepts for fascism—the state and race—have almost no role as distinguishing markers for in-group/out-group divisions in Islamism, and even less in Islam more generally, and Arendt likely would have recognized that.
What Robin suggests Arendt is useful for today is for her critiques of imperialism and the racism that is connected with it, of Zionism and the way it has affected global politics post-WWII, and of careerism and its relationship to the banality of evil. If you are a fan of Edmund Burke (and once again, Reviewers, I'm looking at you), please at least read what this article says about Arendt's critique of him. However, each section about Arendt's continued usefulness is important and enlightening.
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