Who's an extremist? Pierre-André Taguieff proposes a critical redefinition of a notion too often muddied.

Extremism is a muddled notion. Meant to enable classification, it is used, first and foremost, to demonize an adversary. But this controversial term often neglects to describe just what it considers absolute evil. The goal, then, is to dissociate emotional reactions from objective threats when it comes to political discourse. This work attempts to reconceive the category of extremism and make it useful to the analysis of contemporary political attitudes and behaviors. The first step is to draw the line between what is acceptable and what is unacceptable. Only then can we redefine a political horizon beyond the rival extremisms that threaten our freedoms.