Badiou, political nihilism, and a small-scale solution

In Badiou, Political Nihilism, and a Small-Scale Solution I argue that Badiou's presentation of politics, exclusively on a large scale---that of the nation-state---betrays his underlying set-theoretic ontology. The consequence of presenting politics on this scale is that political events, opportunities for genuine political engagement, are extremely rare. This leaves potential political actors with little reason to believe they will have the opportunity to engage in politics. The absence of meaningful engagement, along with Badiou's unique conception of truth, gives rise to the problem of political nihilism. But, just as sets are both composed of sets and couched within others, situations too should be viewed as scalable. Representing politics on a multiplicity of scales overcomes the worry about nihilism, while better capturing the real complexity and texture of political commitments.