An examination of the political thinkers Hannah Arendt and Albert Camus. Isaac shows that both writers advanced the idea of a democratic civil society made up of self-limiting groups. While they criticized typical institutions of democratic politics, they favoured alternative forms of organization.

Although they criticized the typical institutions of mass democratic politics, they endorsed alternative forms of local and international organization that defy the principle of state sovereignty. Isaac also shows how Arendt's writings on the Middle East, and Camus's on Algeria, urged the creation of such institutions. The vision of a "rebellious politics" that Arendt and Camus shared is of great relevance to current debates in democratic theory and to the transformations taking place in Europe and the states of the former Soviet Union.

Humanity at zero hour
Totalitarianism and the intoxication of power
The ambiguities of humanism
Revolt and foundations of politics
Rebellion and democratic politics
Swimming against the tide
Rebellious politics reconsidered.