Conditions of Possibility versus Conditions of Causality: Some Comments on the Contemporary Reception of Hannah Arendt's Writings on Imperialism and Totalitarianism

ABSTRACT

Many historians interpret Hannah Arendt's reflections on imperialism and anti-Semitism in the first two parts of The Origins of Totalitarianism as a conventional narrative account of the'causes''leading up to' totalitarianism. In a recent essay, Christopher Lee challenges this interpretation, arguing that Arendt draws a fundamental methodological distinction between the'causes' of historical phenomena and the'general "conditions" for their occurrence'. Lee is right to stress the fundamentally anti-teleological nature of Arendt's analysis of the'origins' of totalitarianism. However, Lee's own account of Arendt's theory of totalitarianism shows little evidence of having benefited from this important insight. We are told that for Arendt there is a'continuum between colonial and totalitarian states' and that'colonial states were precursors for more totalitarian forms found later in Europe'. This is a feature of the secondary literature analysing Arendt's theory of totalitarianism which is as common as it is erroneous. In this essay I argue that only if we acknowledge the novel features of Arendt's political thought is it possible to understand why, as Lee argues, it is important to'claim a contemporary place for her within the history of political thought on Africa and imperialism more generally'.

Keywords:

• colonialism
• nation-state
• imperialism
• overseas imperialism
• continental imperialism
• totalitarianism
• Fascism
• national socialism
• causality