This book, which is one of the key works of the famous Slovenian philosopher and social theorist Slavoj iek, offers a systematic presentation of the Lacanian theory of political subjectivity. Criticism of key approaches to subjectivity is presented: the subject of German classical philosophy, the political subject of French postalthusserian political philosophy and the deconstructivist subject. Applying the Lacanian concept of the subject to the sphere of politics, iek argues that since any symbolic structure, including ideology, is marked by a constitutive "lack", the subject tries either to "fill in" or hide it in the hope of giving social life a solid foundation. However, such attempts inevitably prove futile, since the subject himself is never fully constituted. The book is of interest not only to philosophers, political scientists, sociologists, but also to the widest audience.