The war in Iraq brought Habermas and Derrida together in defense of international law and in favor of a bigger role for a united Europe in international affairs. Yet, despite the rapprochement between Habermas and Derrida in the years prior to DerridaтАЩs death, important differences remain between HabermasтАЩs critical theory and DerridaтАЩs deconstruction. These differences reflect differences between post-structuralism and critical theory and between postmodernists and the defenders of modernity.
Lasse Thomassen is Lecturer in Political Theory in the School of Politics and International Relations at Queen Mary, University of London. He is the editor of Habermas: A Guide for the Perplexed (Continuum, 2010) and, with Lars T├╕nder, co-editor of Radical democracy: Politics between abundance and lack (Manchester University Press, 2005).