Lyotard and the Political offers the first systematic analysis of the political implications of the work of the highly influential and controversial French philosopher Francois Lyotard. James Williams clearly traces the development of Lyotard's thought from his early Marxist essays on the Algerian struggle for independence to his break with the thought of Marx and Freud. This is compared with Lyotard'a later, highly influential writings on the politics of desire and his attempts to base a postmodern political discourses on the sublime. The book situates Lyotard's thought in terms of the dominant political and philosophical positions of the twentieth century, exploring the reasons why Lyotard lost his belief in revolutionary politics and the consequences, both negative and positive, of this loss. Williams particularly emphasizes Lyotard's relationship with Kant, Heidegger and Deleuze and illuminates the political dimension of Lyotard's writings on art, literature and style in philosophy.