Few concepts are currently debated as intensely as that of the Political, which stands in stark contrast to what is generally understood as "politics." Oliver Marchart now presents the first systematic comparison of thinkers of the Political. He conducts a critical analysis of the writings of Jean-Luc Nancy, Claude Lefort, Alain Badiou, Ernesto Laclau, and Giorgio Agamben, situating them within the broader currents of a left Heideggerianism and relating them to the systematic horizon of a thinking without ultimate justifications. Within this horizon, the philosophical, political, and ethical implications of a thought of political difference emerge: the contemporary role of political ontology, the possibilities of a minimal politics, and a democratic ethics of self-alienation.