Political science and theory Books

Book SynopsisFerguson starts with the commonplace assumption within political philosophy that the family provides the ideal model for political association. Yet families are not necessarily harmonious units. Ferguson takes up several situations to think about how familial attachments can offer insight into the creation of a pluralistic and democratic society.Trade Review“Among the many strengths of this book, the greatest might be the way Ferguson uses the perspective of family life to pull together and explore an uncommon variety of ideas about politics and community… But it is to Ferguson’s immense credit as a thinker and writer that he allows his argument to range across such a breadth of ideas within social and political theory without ever leaving the reader confused or disoriented.” - Brian Duff, Theory & Event"Are you tired of shopworn stories about the interdependence of family and politics? With their suspect notions of organic harmony, typically joined to attacks on the plural families of today? Well, then, this is the book for you. Kennan Ferguson addresses the variable intensities, blunted communications across fissures, silences, multiple disabilities, and negotiations across these lines that constitute family life. Now, he says, we are in a position to think about the complexities of family life and politics together, allowing each to illuminate the other. An impressive achievement!"—William E. Connolly, author of A World of Becoming"When political theorists want to show us what community, authority, and other elusive political goods look like, they often have recourse to examples drawn from family life. Yet as Kennan Ferguson argues, the family relationships imagined by political theorists are too good to be true: real families are riven by conflict, mistrust, and opaqueness, just as political communities are. With an eye for illuminating details, an uncommonly creative theoretical imagination, and a gift for cutting to the heart of a political issue, Ferguson shows us how political theory could profit from attending to the aspects of family life that have been obscured in the rush to make the family signify an extraordinary communal solidarity. All in the Family is an outstanding contribution to contemporary political thinking."—Patchen Markell, author of Bound by Recognition“Among the many strengths of this book, the greatest might be the way Ferguson uses the perspective of family life to pull together and explore an uncommon variety of ideas about politics and community… But it is to Ferguson’s immense credit as a thinker and writer that he allows his argument to range across such a breadth of ideas within social and political theory without ever leaving the reader confused or disoriented.” -- Brian Duff * Theory & Event *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii 1. Familial Intensities 1 2. The Functioning Family 13 3. Communities against Politics 33 4. Silence: A Politics 63 5. I [Heart] My Dog 83 6. The Spaces of Disability 107 7. Familiar Languages 125 Notes 153 Bibliography 179 Index 193

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Book SynopsisIn this book, Joshua Ramey examines the extent to which Gilles Deleuze's ethics, metaphysics, and politics were informed by, and can only be fully understood through, this hermetic tradition.Trade Review“Comprehensive and detailed. . . . [A] beautifully written and well-researched book. . . .” - Dorothea Olkowski, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews“This is a valuable book for Deleuze scholars, philosophy and religious studies students, and scholars who are interested in contemporary Continental philosophy. Highly recommended. Upper-level undergraduates through researchers/faculty.” - D.W. Rothermel, Choice"In this beautiful and daring book on Gilles Deleuze's esotericism, Joshua Ramey initiates us into a spiritual reading of Deleuzian ideas of immanence, founding, becoming, sign, and symbol. The defense of that great unsaid of reason, hermetic heterodoxy, is conveyed with elegance. Through exemplary scholarly study, Ramey seduces us with a dark side to thought. He inducts us into millennia of 'minor' traditions, while transforming them alongside Deleuze's most testing inventions. Rarely has scandalous instruction been so rewarding or rigorous."—James Williams, University of Dundee"This inspired and rigorous engagement with Gilles Deleuze's concept of immanence raises fresh new problems and questions. Joshua Ramey reads Deleuze as a philosopher who both causes thought to happen and inquires how it happens; he philosophizes about philosophizing. As such, Ramey presents Deleuze as a philosophical demiurge, which is both exciting and provoking. This is an important book and a valuable contribution to the field."—Ian Buchanan, editor of the journal Deleuze Studies“Comprehensive and detailed. . . . [A] beautifully written and well-researched book. . . .” -- Dorothea Olkowski * Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *“This is a valuable book for Deleuze scholars, philosophy and religious studies students, and scholars who are interested in contemporary Continental philosophy. Highly recommended. Upper-level undergraduates through researchers/faculty.” -- D.W. Rothermel * Choice *Table of ContentsList of Abbreviations ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction: Secrets of Immanence 1 1. Philosophical Modernity and Experimental Imperative 11 2. Dark Precursors: The Hermetic Tradition 32 3. The Force of Symbols: Deleuze and the Esoteric Sign 82 4. The Overturning of Platonism 112 5. Becoming Cosmic 148 6. The Politics of Sorcery 171 7. The Future of Belief 200 Coda: Experimental Faith 219 Notes 225 Bibliography 275 Index 283

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Book SynopsisConsiders how a culture of crisis management - what the author calls "the new chronic" - has come to dominate various aspects of contemporary life, from biomedicine to economics to politics. This title unravels the logic of the new chronic where people find themselves suspended in a space between life and death.Trade Review“Cazdyn’s treatise is provocative, creative, and intelligent, calling for no less than a global revolution in action and ideology. Anchored in American events and history, it also has much to offer at the international level, and it will be a welcome companion to a wide range of curricula in the humanities, medical, and social sciences.” - Lawrence C. Rubin, Journal of American Culture"In The Already Dead, Eric Cazdyn establishes what he calls a nonmoralizing critique of capitalism, starting from the premise that crisis does not symptomize the failure of the system but rather its proper functioning. He is committed to a systemic, radical critique that keeps open the possibilities of revolution. This is a bracing and provocative book, both ideationally and stylistically."—Rei Terada, University of California, Irvine"This immensely ambitious and unclassifiable theoretical work begins by projecting a new kind of temporality—the new chronic—out of medical practice, in order to range across the political, the cultural, the national, the autobiographical, and the economic, touching in passing on film and globalization, and in the process unearthing new life forms: the already dead, the always dead, and the always already dead. It is an exciting journey."—Fredric Jameson, Duke University“Cazdyn’s treatise is provocative, creative, and intelligent, calling for no less than a global revolution in action and ideology. Anchored in American events and history, it also has much to offer at the international level, and it will be a welcome companion to a wide range of curricula in the humanities, medical, and social sciences.” -- Lawrence C. Rubin * Journal of American Culture *“While it is not the only reason to read the book, it is the performance itself, the manner in which Cazdyn artfully combines three areas of study and speaks of them in parallel with one another, that is most valuable, no matter the discipline to which the reader belongs. Cazdyn invokes a system that is both utopian (in its impossible future – the American Dream is always just a step away) and pre-apocalyptic.” -- Valérie Savard * Science Fiction Film and Television *“Cazdyn covers a dizzying array of examples of the way this shift has become normalized–drawn from popular culture, cinema, and literature. One must pause to marvel at the facility with which he melds such analysis with moving personal essays.” -- Kurt Newman * U.S. Intellectual History Blog *“This book is a roller-coaster ride through a broad swath of cultural studies, psychoanalysis and the social sciences—from the relationship of the chronic subject to phenomena in capitalism, biopolitics and global formations, and from trends in medicine to descriptions of how death and life are brought together in the literary and psychoanalytic imagination.” -- Sharon R. Kaufman * Culture, Health & Sexuality *“The Already Dead comes at a critical moment in which the vulgarities of the global capitalist system have become increasingly difficult to conceal. The book’s approach, at once theoretical and personal, historical and cultural, seeks new modes of revolutionary consciousness that can destabilize both within and without the capitalist system so as to reconfigure everything.” -- Adam Broinowski * Reviews in Cultural Theory *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii Introduction 1 Part 1. The New Chronic 13 Part 2. The Global Abyss 99 Part 3. The Already Dead 159 Notes 205 Selected Bibliography 217 Index 221

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Book SynopsisExamines the political and religious dimensions of the work of philosopher Henri BergsonTrade Review"The strength of this book is the way that it remedies the scholarly neglect of Henri Bergson's political and religious thought, especially as found in his last book, The Two Sources of Morality and Religion. Together, these essays provide a more well-rounded view of Bergson's complete project and show how he can contribute to rethinking a number of current issues in sociological, political, and religious thought."—John Protevi, author of Political Affect: Connecting the Social and the Somatic"This timely collection offers the most sustained and expansive investigation to date of Henri Bergson's understanding of the political and of religion. Critical essays by respected scholars of Bergson's multifaceted work are preceded by a superb, rigorously argued, and lucid introductory analysis of his guiding concepts and intuitions. The collection as a whole invites us to reconsider what a truly Bergsonian 'actualization of philosophy within politics' looked like during Bergson's time, as well as what further promise it may contain for the diplomatic, deliberative, and radically democratic challenges that face us today. It shows too how deeply Bergson's pragmatic lesson relied on his increasing awareness of the resources of the religious archive, particularly of mysticism. As such, this book offers a remarkable new point of departure in the ongoing and all too predictable controversies concerning religion and politics, nationalism and internationalism, war and peace."—Hent de Vries, author of Philosophy and the Turn to Religion“The editors of and contributors to this volume make a good case that researchers interested in questions of the history of Continental political and religious thought may benefit from a close look at the work of Bergson. Recommended.” -- R.C. Robinson * Choice *“The introduction by the editors is excellent and the essays are of a uniformly high quality, with several taking 'Bergsonian' thought into new territory. Both Bergson scholars and those new to his work will find much here that will stimulate thinking.“ -- Keith Robinson * Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *“Those new to Bergson will find first-rate introductions, written by leading scholars, to Bergson’s relation to the humanities and social sciences. Those already initiated into Bergson scholarship will find their thought ignited anew as these expert voices advance a dimension of Bergson’s thought overlooked in these salad days of Bergson studies.” -- Michael R. Kelly * French Studies *“Will be warmly welcomed by students of early twentieth century polemological, political psychological and perhaps political ecological action as well.” -- Paul Timmermans * Political Studies Review *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii Abbreviations ix Introduction: Bergson, Politics, and Religion / Alexandre Lefebvre and Melanie White 1 Part I: Closed and Open 1. The Closed and the Open in The Two Sources of Morality and Religion: A Distinction That Changes Everything / Frédéric Worms 25 2. Bergson, the Void, and the Politics of Life / Suzanne Guerlac 40 3. Equally Circular: Bergson and the Vague Inventions of Politics / John Mullarkey 61 4. The Art of the Future / Claire Colebrook 75 Part II: Politics 5. Bergson as Philosopher of War and Theorist of the Political / Philippe Soulez 99 6. Anarchy and Analogy: The Violence of Language in Bergson and Sorel / Hisashi Fujita 126 7. Asceticism and Sexuality: "Cheating Nature" in Bergson's The Two Sources of Morality and Religion / Leonard Lawlor 144 8. Creative Freedom: Henri Bergson and Democratic Theory / Paulina Ochoa Espejo 159 9. Bergson's Critique of Practical Reason / Carl Power 174 10. Bergson and Human Rights / Alexandre Lefebvre 193 Part III: Religion and Mysticism 11. Bergson and Judaism / Vladimir Jankélévitch 217 12. Bergson and Nietzsche on Religion: Critique, Immanence, and Affirmation / Keith Ansell-Pearson and Jim Urpeth 246 13. Assurance and Confidence in The Two Sources of Morality and Religion: A Sociological Interpretation of the Distinction between Static Religion and Dynamic Religion / Frédéric Keck 265 14. Tuning into Other Worlds: Henri Bergson and the Radio Reception Theory of Consciousness / G. William Barnard 281 15. James, Bergson, and an Open Universe / Paola Marrati 299 Bibliography 313 Contributors 325 Index 327

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Book SynopsisSeeking to reinvigorate the political Left, Ash Amin and Nigel Thrift advocate an experimental "world-making" politics that is able to adapt to changing circumstances, shifting categories, and emergent problems.Trade Review“This is a fine and rousing book, and required reading for Messrs Miliband and Cruddas. What its heroic authors say is true, timely and damned difficult. But to outface the monster of corporate capitalism, protean, international but nonetheless fissiparous, often cowardly, always corrupt, Ash Amin and Nigel Thrift have contrived this novel and vigorous weapon of dissent, so much required to fight the rough beast of a new epoch now slouching towards Wall Street to be born." -- Fred Inglis * Times Higher Education *“This book makes a much-needed attempt to revamp the Left’s struggle to ‘voice a politics of social equality and justice’. Problematizing the Left’s ongoing failure to capture and cohere people’s aspirations, to organize politically and to secure achievements, they focus on an essential and, as they rightly claim, neglected aspect of Left politics: the art of doing politics." -- Jessica Schmidt * Radical Philosophy *"This book is about what the Left should be proud of, what it can do to recapture the imagination of peoples to energize them into social action, and what horizons lay ahead in terms of actionable strategies. . . . [M]any of us interested in tipping the scales of justice on the side of integrity and dignity should be reading this wonderful and very useful book.” -- Eduardo Mendieta * City *"The authors of this provocative and insightful book promote an attitude of innovation and experimentation as a means to revive the fortunes of the western Left." -- James Martin * European Political Science *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii Prologue ix 1. The Grounds of Politics 1 2. Leftist Beginnings 17 3. Reinventing the Political 39 4. Contemporary Leftist Thought 77 5. Organizing Politics 111 6. Eurocracy and Its Publics 135 7. Affective Politics 157 Epilogue 187 Notes 201 References 211 Index 227

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Book SynopsisThe preeminent political theorist Étienne Balibar examines what he calls "equaliberty," the fundamental tension in modern democracies between equality and liberty, humanity and citizenship.Trade Review". . . this is a timely publication. It identifies and expands upon a crucial tension within liberal citizenship that runs through the course of history, but which seems particularly prescient today, especially within Europe. . . . Rare for a book with such a philosophical argument, the connection to these issues is clear and prescient. Indeed, this continual problematization of the conditions for citizenship might be considered to be an exemplary manifestation of what it means to be a critical citizen." -- Jonathan Joseph * Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *"This outstanding book is Étienne Balibar at his most powerfully synthetic and politically incisive. In Equaliberty Balibar works his way through the house of left-wing political thought, performing a sort of philosophical spring cleaning. He disarticulates complex concepts only to reassemble them in better, more usable combinations. It is a call to action."—Bruce Robbins, author of Perpetual War: Cosmopolitanism from the Viewpoint of Violence“This is a wonderful speculative text in the best tradition of French political philosophy. But it is not only this: Balibar is also in dialogue with problems of leftist American social and political philosophy and especially its focus on the violences of neoliberalism. Finally, in a style that, by design, knows no country, Balibar’s Equaliberty works to update the enduring insights of Marx and Marxism in a deep reflection for our times." -- Amy E. Wendling * Marx & Philosophy Review of Books *"Today many of the key concepts of our political vocabulary—including equality, freedom, democracy, and emancipation—seem so corrupted and vacuous that they are almost unusable. Étienne Balibar makes an important contribution by engaging critically and restoring these and other crucial political concepts. Equaliberty is a major book that displays Balibar's exemplary combination of erudition and clear, accessible argument."—Michael Hardt, coauthor of the books Declaration, Commonwealth, Multitude, and Empire“Balibar may accept the frameworks and language of really existing capitalism, but he does so in order to pull at their threads and to refocus critique upon tired concepts. But a revolutionary fervour (although this too does not escape theorizing) runs throughout these essays. . . . It is Balibar’s persuasive analysis of who counts as a citizen and who does not, and who is granted rights and who must take them another way, that makes these essays.” -- Nina Power * Radical Philosophy *“A well-written, if still extremely dense, collection of theoretical investigations that lead towards more than just mere armchair philosophising; rather, to a motivated call for sophisticated and impassioned activism through normative research agendas for graduate students and academic professionals, specifically focusing on the future of cosmopolitics and trans-/de-nationalised notions of citizenship.” -- Bryant William Sculos * Political Studies Review *Table of ContentsForeword vii Introduction. The Antimony of Citizenship 1 Part One. The Statement and Institution of Rights 33 1. The Proposition of Equaliberty 35 2. The Reversal of Possessive Individualism 67 3. New Reflections on Equaliberty: Two Lessons 99 Part Two. Sovereignty, Emancipation, Community (Some Critiques) 133 4. What Is Political Philosophy? Notes For a Topography 135 5. Communism and Citizenship: On Nicos Poulantzas 145 6. Hannah Arendt, the Right to Have Rights, and Civil Disobedience 165 7. Populism and Politics: The Return of the Contract 187 Part Three. For a Democracy Without Exclusion 197 8. What Are the Excluded Excluded From? 199 9. Dissonances within Laïcité: The New "Headscarf Affair" 209 10. Secularism and Universality: The Liberal Paradox 223 11. Uprisings in the Banlieues 231 12. Toward Co-Citizenship 259 Conclusion. Resistance, Insurrection, Insubordination 277 Notes 295 Works Cited 343 Index

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Book SynopsisThe preeminent political theorist Étienne Balibar examines what he calls "equaliberty," the fundamental tension in modern democracies between equality and liberty, humanity and citizenship.Trade Review". . . this is a timely publication. It identifies and expands upon a crucial tension within liberal citizenship that runs through the course of history, but which seems particularly prescient today, especially within Europe. . . . Rare for a book with such a philosophical argument, the connection to these issues is clear and prescient. Indeed, this continual problematization of the conditions for citizenship might be considered to be an exemplary manifestation of what it means to be a critical citizen." -- Jonathan Joseph * Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *"This outstanding book is Étienne Balibar at his most powerfully synthetic and politically incisive. In Equaliberty Balibar works his way through the house of left-wing political thought, performing a sort of philosophical spring cleaning. He disarticulates complex concepts only to reassemble them in better, more usable combinations. It is a call to action."—Bruce Robbins, author of Perpetual War: Cosmopolitanism from the Viewpoint of Violence“This is a wonderful speculative text in the best tradition of French political philosophy. But it is not only this: Balibar is also in dialogue with problems of leftist American social and political philosophy and especially its focus on the violences of neoliberalism. Finally, in a style that, by design, knows no country, Balibar’s Equaliberty works to update the enduring insights of Marx and Marxism in a deep reflection for our times." -- Amy E. Wendling * Marx & Philosophy Review of Books *"Today many of the key concepts of our political vocabulary—including equality, freedom, democracy, and emancipation—seem so corrupted and vacuous that they are almost unusable. Étienne Balibar makes an important contribution by engaging critically and restoring these and other crucial political concepts. Equaliberty is a major book that displays Balibar's exemplary combination of erudition and clear, accessible argument."—Michael Hardt, coauthor of the books Declaration, Commonwealth, Multitude, and Empire“Balibar may accept the frameworks and language of really existing capitalism, but he does so in order to pull at their threads and to refocus critique upon tired concepts. But a revolutionary fervour (although this too does not escape theorizing) runs throughout these essays. . . . It is Balibar’s persuasive analysis of who counts as a citizen and who does not, and who is granted rights and who must take them another way, that makes these essays.” -- Nina Power * Radical Philosophy *“A well-written, if still extremely dense, collection of theoretical investigations that lead towards more than just mere armchair philosophising; rather, to a motivated call for sophisticated and impassioned activism through normative research agendas for graduate students and academic professionals, specifically focusing on the future of cosmopolitics and trans-/de-nationalised notions of citizenship.” -- Bryant William Sculos * Political Studies Review *Table of ContentsForeword vii Introduction. The Antimony of Citizenship 1 Part One. The Statement and Institution of Rights 33 1. The Proposition of Equaliberty 35 2. The Reversal of Possessive Individualism 67 3. New Reflections on Equaliberty: Two Lessons 99 Part Two. Sovereignty, Emancipation, Community (Some Critiques) 133 4. What Is Political Philosophy? Notes For a Topography 135 5. Communism and Citizenship: On Nicos Poulantzas 145 6. Hannah Arendt, the Right to Have Rights, and Civil Disobedience 165 7. Populism and Politics: The Return of the Contract 187 Part Three. For a Democracy Without Exclusion 197 8. What Are the Excluded Excluded From? 199 9. Dissonances within Laïcité: The New "Headscarf Affair" 209 10. Secularism and Universality: The Liberal Paradox 223 11. Uprisings in the Banlieues 231 12. Toward Co-Citizenship 259 Conclusion. Resistance, Insurrection, Insubordination 277 Notes 295 Works Cited 343 Index

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Book SynopsisIn Ingenious Citizenship Charles T. Lee centers the daily experiences of migrant domestic workers, sex workers, transgender people, and suicide bombers in his rethinking of models of social change to show how ingenious and subversive acts disrupt traditional practices of liberal citizenship in order to exercise political agency. Trade Review"[Lee] recrafts not only democratic notions of agency, but also what we mean when we say 'political theory' and think about its relationship to how we act in the world." -- Bogdan Popa * Contemporary Political Theory *"Lee draws one into the text through his provocative, outside the box exploration of social change. All in all, Lee has laid the groundwork for a new theory of everyday resistance as a potential force of radical social change. . . . ." -- Michael T. Rogers * New Political Science *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction. Ingenious Agency: Democratic Agency and Its Disavowel 1 Part I. Beginning 1. Improvising Citizenship: Appropriating the Liberal Citizenship Script 37 Part II. Episodes 2. Migrant Domestic Workers, Hidden Tactics, and Appropriating Political Citizenship 61 3. Global Sex Workers, Calculated Abjection, and Appropriating Economic Citizenship 101 4. Trans People, Morphing Technologies, and Appropriating Gendered Citizenship 149 5. Suicide Bombers, Sacrificial Violence, and Appropriating Life Itself 191 Part III. (Un)Ending Conclusion. Politics without Politics: Democracy as Meant for Ingenious Appropriation 247 Notes 257 Works Cited 269 Index 287

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Book SynopsisIn Sexual States Jyoti Puri uses the example of the recent efforts to decriminalize homosexuality in India to show how the regulation of sexuality is fundamentally tied to the creation and enduring existence of the Indian state.Trade Review"[A] knowledge of the myriad ways in which power works helps us to arm ourselves in our fight for social justice, individual rights and democratic freedoms. Puri's book gives us the helpful ammunition we need in our struggle." -- Ratnabir Guha * Telegraph India *“Sexual States is deftly crafted.… Puri employs multiple methods with aplomb and to excellent effect.” -- Joseph J. Fischel * Journal of the History of Sexuality *"[Puri] not only adds to a growing corpus of literature highlighting the necessity of a theoretical and political alliance in resisting state surveillance and brutality among those persecuted as ethno-religious minorities and those persecuted as gender and sexual minorities; she also draws attention to the Indian context, and by extension post-colonial contexts more broadly, as a theater of knowledge production in its own right, with its own intersecting and divergent histories of governmentality, biopolitics, and, sexuality. This should be considered required reading for any scholars interested in the Indian state, postcoloniality and sexuality studies." -- Lars Olav Aaberg * New Books Asia *"Puri’s book is an important addition to the critical sociological literature on sexualities, state, law, and biopolitics, not only for its theoretical sophistication but also for its empirical depth and rich ethnographic insights." -- Chaitanya Lakkimsetti * Contemporary Sociology *“Sexual States is a well-written book that will be important not only for how it makes us rethink sexual justice in India but also for the transnational framework it provides to understand the intricacies of sexuality, the state, and neoliberal processes.” -- Nishant Upadhyay * GLQ *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii Part One. Introduction 1. Governing Sexuality, Constituting States 3 2. Engendering Social Problems, Exposing Sexuality's Effects on Biopolitical States 24 Part Two. Sexual Lives of Juridicial Governance 3. State Scripts: Antisodomy Law and the Annals of Law and Law Enforcement 49 4. "Half Truths": Racialization, Habitual Criminals, and the Police 74 Part Three. Opposing Law, Contesting Governance 5. Pivoting toward the State: Phase One of the Struggle against Section 377 101 6. States versus Sexuality: Decriminalizing and Recriminalizing Homosexuality in the Postliberalized Context 126 Afterlives 150 Notes 165 Bibliography 193 Index 211

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Book SynopsisIn Ingenious Citizenship Charles T. Lee centers the daily experiences of migrant domestic workers, sex workers, transgender people, and suicide bombers in his rethinking of models of social change to show how ingenious and subversive acts disrupt traditional practices of liberal citizenship in order to exercise political agency. Trade Review"[Lee] recrafts not only democratic notions of agency, but also what we mean when we say 'political theory' and think about its relationship to how we act in the world." -- Bogdan Popa * Contemporary Political Theory *"Lee draws one into the text through his provocative, outside the box exploration of social change. All in all, Lee has laid the groundwork for a new theory of everyday resistance as a potential force of radical social change. . . . ." -- Michael T. Rogers * New Political Science *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction. Ingenious Agency: Democratic Agency and Its Disavowel 1 Part I. Beginning 1. Improvising Citizenship: Appropriating the Liberal Citizenship Script 37 Part II. Episodes 2. Migrant Domestic Workers, Hidden Tactics, and Appropriating Political Citizenship 61 3. Global Sex Workers, Calculated Abjection, and Appropriating Economic Citizenship 101 4. Trans People, Morphing Technologies, and Appropriating Gendered Citizenship 149 5. Suicide Bombers, Sacrificial Violence, and Appropriating Life Itself 191 Part III. (Un)Ending Conclusion. Politics without Politics: Democracy as Meant for Ingenious Appropriation 247 Notes 257 Works Cited 269 Index 287

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Book SynopsisIn Sexual States Jyoti Puri uses the example of the recent efforts to decriminalize homosexuality in India to show how the regulation of sexuality is fundamentally tied to the creation and enduring existence of the Indian state.Trade Review"[A] knowledge of the myriad ways in which power works helps us to arm ourselves in our fight for social justice, individual rights and democratic freedoms. Puri's book gives us the helpful ammunition we need in our struggle." -- Ratnabir Guha * Telegraph India *“Sexual States is deftly crafted.… Puri employs multiple methods with aplomb and to excellent effect.” -- Joseph J. Fischel * Journal of the History of Sexuality *"[Puri] not only adds to a growing corpus of literature highlighting the necessity of a theoretical and political alliance in resisting state surveillance and brutality among those persecuted as ethno-religious minorities and those persecuted as gender and sexual minorities; she also draws attention to the Indian context, and by extension post-colonial contexts more broadly, as a theater of knowledge production in its own right, with its own intersecting and divergent histories of governmentality, biopolitics, and, sexuality. This should be considered required reading for any scholars interested in the Indian state, postcoloniality and sexuality studies." -- Lars Olav Aaberg * New Books Asia *"Puri’s book is an important addition to the critical sociological literature on sexualities, state, law, and biopolitics, not only for its theoretical sophistication but also for its empirical depth and rich ethnographic insights." -- Chaitanya Lakkimsetti * Contemporary Sociology *“Sexual States is a well-written book that will be important not only for how it makes us rethink sexual justice in India but also for the transnational framework it provides to understand the intricacies of sexuality, the state, and neoliberal processes.” -- Nishant Upadhyay * GLQ *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii Part One. Introduction 1. Governing Sexuality, Constituting States 3 2. Engendering Social Problems, Exposing Sexuality's Effects on Biopolitical States 24 Part Two. Sexual Lives of Juridicial Governance 3. State Scripts: Antisodomy Law and the Annals of Law and Law Enforcement 49 4. "Half Truths": Racialization, Habitual Criminals, and the Police 74 Part Three. Opposing Law, Contesting Governance 5. Pivoting toward the State: Phase One of the Struggle against Section 377 101 6. States versus Sexuality: Decriminalizing and Recriminalizing Homosexuality in the Postliberalized Context 126 Afterlives 150 Notes 165 Bibliography 193 Index 211

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Book SynopsisIn Moral Economies of Corruption Steven Pierce provides a cultural history of the last 150 years of corruption in Nigeria as a case study for considering corruption's dynamic nature, finding it to be a culturally contingent set of political discourses and historically embedded practices.Trade Review"Moral Economies of Corruption is not only rich history, but also a theoretically insightful analysis that has much to offer beyond its particularism. Scholars interested in corruption in other parts of Africa, and in other regions of the world, will find much to ponder and appreciate." -- Daniel Jordan Smith * American Ethnologist *"[T]his is a superb and path-breaking book. Through meticulous attention to detail, it builds an argument that is as important as it is compelling. And, ironically, it is by refusing to compromise on historical and cultural specificity that it makes its most important contribution to understanding and engaging critically and constructively with a global discourse." -- Kate Hampshire * Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute *"The strength of Pierce’s book is the depth of its historical excavation and the synchronization of relevant data on the diverse forms of corruption across Nigeria’s multitudinous ethnicities at different periods in the country’s over one hundred years of statehood." -- John Olushola Magbadelo * African Studies Quarterly *"Pierce makes a significant contribution to the analysis of corruption in Nigeria by going beyond the dominant Eurocentric and neo-Weberian analyses, which are couched in universalistic, Eurocentric, and derogatory terms. . . . A useful addition to the study of Nigeria’s contemporary history and political culture." -- Jeremiah Dibua * American Historical Review *"Nigerian corruption has attracted the attention of numerous scholars over the years, and this has given rise to a plethora of insightful analyses, from several different angles. However, Steven Pierce ... offers a new perspective and fresh insight into the discourse. ... Pierce has written a valuable book that focuses our attention on the fundamental problem of corruption in Nigeria." -- Azeez Olaniyan * African Studies Review *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction: Corruption Discourse and the Performance of Politics 1 Part I. From Caliphate to Federal Republic 1. A Tale of Two Emirs: Colonialism and Bureaucratizing Emirates, 1900–1948 27 2. The Political Time: Ethnicity and Violence, 1948–1970 63 3. Oil and the "Army Arrangement": Corruption and the Petro-State, 1970–1999 105 Part II. Corruption, Nigeria, and the Moral Imagination 4. Moral Economies of Corruption 153 5. Nigerian Corruption and the Limits of the State 188 Conclusion 219 Notes 231 Bibliography 257 Index 277

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Book SynopsisIn Moral Economies of Corruption Steven Pierce provides a cultural history of the last 150 years of corruption in Nigeria as a case study for considering corruption's dynamic nature, finding it to be a culturally contingent set of political discourses and historically embedded practices.Trade Review"Moral Economies of Corruption is not only rich history, but also a theoretically insightful analysis that has much to offer beyond its particularism. Scholars interested in corruption in other parts of Africa, and in other regions of the world, will find much to ponder and appreciate." -- Daniel Jordan Smith * American Ethnologist *"[T]his is a superb and path-breaking book. Through meticulous attention to detail, it builds an argument that is as important as it is compelling. And, ironically, it is by refusing to compromise on historical and cultural specificity that it makes its most important contribution to understanding and engaging critically and constructively with a global discourse." -- Kate Hampshire * Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute *"The strength of Pierce’s book is the depth of its historical excavation and the synchronization of relevant data on the diverse forms of corruption across Nigeria’s multitudinous ethnicities at different periods in the country’s over one hundred years of statehood." -- John Olushola Magbadelo * African Studies Quarterly *"Pierce makes a significant contribution to the analysis of corruption in Nigeria by going beyond the dominant Eurocentric and neo-Weberian analyses, which are couched in universalistic, Eurocentric, and derogatory terms. . . . A useful addition to the study of Nigeria’s contemporary history and political culture." -- Jeremiah Dibua * American Historical Review *"Nigerian corruption has attracted the attention of numerous scholars over the years, and this has given rise to a plethora of insightful analyses, from several different angles. However, Steven Pierce ... offers a new perspective and fresh insight into the discourse. ... Pierce has written a valuable book that focuses our attention on the fundamental problem of corruption in Nigeria." -- Azeez Olaniyan * African Studies Review *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction: Corruption Discourse and the Performance of Politics 1 Part I. From Caliphate to Federal Republic 1. A Tale of Two Emirs: Colonialism and Bureaucratizing Emirates, 1900–1948 27 2. The Political Time: Ethnicity and Violence, 1948–1970 63 3. Oil and the "Army Arrangement": Corruption and the Petro-State, 1970–1999 105 Part II. Corruption, Nigeria, and the Moral Imagination 4. Moral Economies of Corruption 153 5. Nigerian Corruption and the Limits of the State 188 Conclusion 219 Notes 231 Bibliography 257 Index 277

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Book SynopsisIn The Sublime Perversion of Capital Gavin Walker examines the Japanese debate about capitalism between the 1920s and 1950s, using it as a "prehistory" to consider current problems of uneven economic development and contemporary topics in Marxist theory and historiography.Trade Review"Walker’s book does much to clarify the relevance of Uno’s work for both historical research and studies of the present moment; it occupies a central place in the on-going 'Uno Renaissance.'" -- Katsuhiko Endo * Journal of Social History *"Walker’s work offers something of value to both economic historians as well as Japanologists: an opportunity to catch a glimpse of the contributions of Japanese intellectuals as you focus on the tensions of Marxism and capitalism for the former and a review (if not (re)discovery) of the essentials of Marxism and capitalist theory while in pursuit of the history of contemporary Japanese social sciences for the latter." -- Anthony Rausch * New Books Asia *“Original and erudite. . . . Gavin Walker develops a wide-ranging and densely argued Marxist theoretical account of capital and its (il)logics. The heart of his inquiry is what he calls capital’s “sublime perversion”: its ability to overcome, without resolving, its own contradictions, its 'constant and relentless transformation of limits into thresholds.' Walker’s theorization of this perversion interweaves a set of concepts and approaches derived from Marx and from Walker’s extensive reading (in, by my count, seven languages) of twentieth- and early twenty-first-century thinkers.” -- Derek Hall * Pacific Affairs *"Gavin Walker’s book on the Japanese capitalism debate of the 1920s and 1930s, The Sublime Perversion of Capital, brings this important set of arguments on Marxist theory and history out of the domain of Japanese studies, where it is often cited but scarcely appreciated, and into dialogue with contemporary historiography and political theory. . . . The Sublime Perversion of Capital is an important and singular contribution to scholarship on Marxism and capitalism. It restores the sophistication of interwar Japanese debates on the country’s development and the development of capitalism on a global scale. Walker shows the significance of these debates for Marxism at a time when the Comintern’s dicta were challenged by the heterogeneity of the global political economy. His book thus reinstates the historicity of debates on the nature of capitalism and its historical manifestation, then and now.” -- Christopher L. Hill * American Historical Review *"A truly interdisciplinary work that understands Japanese Marxism as part of a larger global moment. . . .Through Japanese Marxist writings, [Walker] shows how capital needs the state to commodify labor power, leading to a global system of borders and policing. In this light one might compare the book to recent Althusserian readings of Marx that theorize capitalism as comprising class structures related to the market, state, and world system. Walker also gestures in the direction of combined and uneven development and attempts to posit an alternative to the theoretical impasse between universal- ism and particularism by grounding both in a theory of capitalism. The Sublime Perversion of Capital remains essential reading for scholars interested in area studies, Japanese intellectual history, and Marxist theory and helps us rethink the role that capitalism and the nation-state play in shaping the world in which we live.” -- Viren Murthy * Monumenta Nipponica *"The Sublime Perversion of Capital makes an important intervention in both Japanese intellectual history and Marxist theory." -- Viren Murthy * Journal of Asian Studies *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Note on Translations xiii Three Orientations xv 1. The Sublime Perversion of Capital 1 2. The Feudal Remnant and the Historical Outside 28 3. Primitive Accumulation, or the Logic of Origin 75 4. Labor Power: Capital's Threshold 108 5. The Continent of History and the Theoretical Inside 152 6. "The Ready-Made World of Capital" 182 Notes 195 Bibliography 225 Index 243

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Book SynopsisKarin Amimoto Ingersoll uses her concept of seascape epistemology to articulate an indigenous Hawaiian way of knowing founded on a sensorial, intellectual, and embodied literacy of the ocean that can provide the means for generating an alternative indigenous politics and ethics.Trade Review"Conveying the beauty and meaning of hee nalu to Hawaiians past and present, with water photos by her husband, Russell J. Amimoto, Waves of Knowing is an impassioned and informative call to surfers to be responsible to ourselves, our community and our shared, beloved sea." -- Mindy Pennybacker * Honolulu Star-Advertiser *"Despite the limitations of writing in the English language, Waves of Knowing is an elegant way of articulating an indigenous Hawaiian epistemology.... This book is a valuable contribution to the literature on indigenous methodology, and will also contribute to the growing literature in critical surf studies." -- Dina Gilio-Whitaker * Fourth World Journal *"Waves of Knowing is an intimate discussion of both external and internal realities found both in the politics of Hawaiʻi and within the author’s perception. Ingersoll eschews a colonial-variety, empirical world (knowledge without the nuance of dreams or intuition) and instead explores a dynamic, place-based, historic memory empowerment which becomes its own living archive. . . . Ingersoll works to re-code this fluid sensibility back into our thinking so feeling and emotion can respectfully re-enter our cognitive reality." -- Manulani Aluli Meyer * Indigenous Knowledge *“This beautifully written book makes a valuable contribution to articulating indigenous epistemologies, and offers concrete suggestions for how Kanaka Maoli ways of knowing can be translated into practices which empower indigenous and local knowledge and skills, affirm cultural identity, and care for both the land and seascapes.” -- Tui Nicola Clery * Pacific Affairs *"Waves of Knowing is an important contribution. . . . It helps us understand what has been lost but which is being recovered; it gives us insight into surfing and how new hybrid forms exist in the present but respect the past; and, most importantly, it helps give understanding of, and momentum to, ways of knowing our environment that provide critical alternatives to dominant epistemologies and the unsustainable and capricious economies they inform." -- John Overton * Asia Pacific Viewpoint *"As a methodological exploration into the ways in which personal history, cultural connectivity, imperial history, and commercialization of recreation can be woven through a story of encounters with (and in) a specific space, Waves of Knowing is a fascinating book." -- Philip Steinberg * Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography *"Although emphasized for practice-based or place-based education, the fields of philosophy, English, and history may also benefit from Ingersoll’s work, which is a brilliant example of an Indigenous way of knowing that is shaped from the epistemological complexity of the movement of the ocean through which insight into an ontologically formed Hawaiian identity is also provided." -- Amy Farrell-Morneau * Native American and Indigenous Studies *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction 1 1. He'e Nalu: Reclaiming Ke Kai 41 2. Oceanic Literacy: A Politics and an Ethics 79 3. Seascape Epistemology: Ke Kino and Movement 103 4. Ho'okele: Seascape Epistemology as an Embodied Voyage 127 5. Hālau O Ke Kai: Potential Applications of Seascape Epitemology 155 Epilogue 183 Notes 185 References 189 Index 197

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Book SynopsisAttending to diverse practices of everyday living and doing—of form, style, and scenography—in Jacques Rancière’s writings, Davide Panagia explores Rancière’s aesthetics of politics as it informs his radical democratic theory of participation.Trade Review“To understand Rancière, Panagia argues, is to set aside the search for prescriptive constructs and instead embrace the aesthetic sensibilities that create the world. Recommended.” -- L. A. Wilkinson * Choice *"Davide Panagia has written a complex and pathbreaking book that engages the work of democratic theorist Jacques Rancière in order to redefine what it means to practice democracy. Rancière’s Sentiments is not an introduction to Rancière’s oeuvre, but rather a book that grapples with his most difficult ideas in order to challenge established assumptions about how politics comes to be known, felt, and practiced." -- Elisabeth Anker * Perspectives on Politics *"Rancière’s Sentiments is a whistle-stop tour of aesthetics in the work of Jacques Rancière. . . . Davide Panagia skillfully meshes a scenic narrative, wending his way through four chapters, each exploring a different line of division that Rancière’s writing puts into question." -- Clare Woodford * Review of Politics *"I would recommend Davide Panagia's Rancière's Sentiments without hesitation to any researcher in literature, political science, or philosophy who seeks an articulate presentation of Rancière's very particular manner of thinking and arguing. Panagia has done a superb job of navigating through and illuminating the various constellations that characterize Rancière's thought, while maintaining the sense and the feel of a manner of thinking that elide closure." -- David F. Bell * H-France, H-Net Reviews *Table of ContentsPreface vii Acknowledgments xiii Introduction. The Manner of Impropriety 1 1. Rancière's Partager 19 2. Rancière's Police Poetics 40 3. Rancière's Style 63 4. Rancière's Democratic Realism 85 Conclusion. Demotic Modernisms, Popular Occupations 99 Notes 105 Bibliography 129 Index 137

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Book SynopsisAttending to diverse practices of everyday living and doingof form, style, and scenographyin Jacques Rancière's writings, Davide Panagia explores Rancière's aesthetics of politics as it informs his radical democratic theory of participation.Trade Review“To understand Rancière, Panagia argues, is to set aside the search for prescriptive constructs and instead embrace the aesthetic sensibilities that create the world. Recommended.” -- L. A. Wilkinson * Choice *"Davide Panagia has written a complex and pathbreaking book that engages the work of democratic theorist Jacques Rancière in order to redefine what it means to practice democracy. Rancière’s Sentiments is not an introduction to Rancière’s oeuvre, but rather a book that grapples with his most difficult ideas in order to challenge established assumptions about how politics comes to be known, felt, and practiced." -- Elisabeth Anker * Perspectives on Politics *"Rancière’s Sentiments is a whistle-stop tour of aesthetics in the work of Jacques Rancière. . . . Davide Panagia skillfully meshes a scenic narrative, wending his way through four chapters, each exploring a different line of division that Rancière’s writing puts into question." -- Clare Woodford * Review of Politics *"I would recommend Davide Panagia's Rancière's Sentiments without hesitation to any researcher in literature, political science, or philosophy who seeks an articulate presentation of Rancière's very particular manner of thinking and arguing. Panagia has done a superb job of navigating through and illuminating the various constellations that characterize Rancière's thought, while maintaining the sense and the feel of a manner of thinking that elide closure." -- David F. Bell * H-France, H-Net Reviews *Table of ContentsPreface vii Acknowledgments xiii Introduction. The Manner of Impropriety 1 1. Rancière's Partager 19 2. Rancière's Police Poetics 40 3. Rancière's Style 63 4. Rancière's Democratic Realism 85 Conclusion. Demotic Modernisms, Popular Occupations 99 Notes 105 Bibliography 129 Index 137

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Book SynopsisInvestigates why parites fail in the context of the contemporary Latin American left.

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Book SynopsisIn the late eighteenth century, enlightened politicians and upper-class women in Spain debated the right of women to join one of the country's most prominent scientific institutions: the Madrid Economic Society of Friends of the Country. Societies such as these, as Elena Serrano describes in her book, were founded on the idea that laypeople could contribute to the advancement of their country by providing useful knowledge, and their fellows often referred to themselves as improvers, or friends of the country. After intense debates, the duchess of Benavente, along with nine distinguished ladies, claimed, won, and exercised the right of women to participate in shaping the future of their nation by inaugurating the Junta de Damas de Honor y Mérito, or the Committee of Ladies of Honor and Merit. Ten years later, the Junta established a network of over sixty correspondents extending from Tenerife to Asturias and Austria to Cuba. With this book, Serrano tells the unknown story of how the duc

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisNations use product standards, and manipulate them, for reasons other than practical use or safety. Samuel Krislov compares and contrasts the United States, the EC, the former Eastern bloc, and Japan—o link standard choice with political styles and to trace growing internationalization based on product efficiency criteria.Trade ReviewHooray for Samuel Krislov's book on standardization. . . . Krislov's account of the evolution of standards might by itself make an excellent introduction to standardization in a course reading packet. Krislov is interested in the relationships among law, regulation, government, and organizations. He is concerned about bureaucratic inertia in official standards organizations. He favors voluntary industrial standards over outright regulation, and prefers performance standards (i.e., product capability requirements) over design standards (specifying the exact form of a product). He points out how standards boundaries have affected political alliances and created strong and lasting trade barriers.""- Contemporary Sociology""Krislov presents a detailed history of standards and also provides information on their economic and international implications. . . . Krislov emphasizes the American standards system and its institutions, but draws to institutional standards."" - Choice""A fascinating overview of an extremely important but too often neglected subject, namely business standards and the critical role they have played and continue to play in both the national and global economy. What makes this study especially valuable is its rich and detailed comparative and historical scope."" - David Vogel, University of California, Berkeley

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Book SynopsisThis volume of essays assembles a diverse array of approaches to the problems of ethnic conflict, with researchers and scholars using pure theory, comparative case studies, and aggregate data analysis to approach the complex questions facing today's leaders.

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Book SynopsisKenneth Collier traces the evolution of the methods the White House has developed to influence Congress over nine adminstrations.

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Book SynopsisSweden remains a capitalist society with economic and social power in the hands of big business. This work raises questions about the significance of electoral and governmental powers in capitalist societies and offers answers that can be applied to understanding other European social democracies.

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Book SynopsisTwelve top scholars analyze Brazilian democracy in a comprehensive, systematic fashion, covering the full period of the New Republic from Presidents Sarney to Cardoso.

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Book SynopsisBlais tackles the controversial topic of rational choice theory in an engaging and personal way, bringing together the opposing theories and literatures, and offering convincing tests of these different viewpoints in order to find out what makes people decide to vote.

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Book SynopsisAn informative case study of how bureaucrats establish and enforce policy and law. By focusing on personnel from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the New Mexico Environment Department Bureaucrats, Politics, and the Environment puts a face on bureaucracy and provides an explanation for its actions.Trade ReviewA controversial, yet worthwhile contribution to the study of administrative politics.... Merits serious attention by scholars and practitioners interested in public administration, public policy, and American politics. - George A. Krause, University of South Carolina; ""Drives a stake through the heart of simplistic applications of agency theory and assumptions of budget-maximizing behavior while offering a far more sophisticated portrayal of the complex set of factors that shape regulation."" - Marc Allen Eisner, Wesleyan University

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Book SynopsisNatural resource extraction has fueled protest movements in Latin America and existing research has drawn considerable scholarly attention to the politics of antimarket contention at the national level, particularly in Ecuador, Bolivia, and Argentina.

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Book SynopsisCastilho offers original perspectives on the political upheaval surrounding the process of slave emancipation in postcolonial Brazil. He shows how the abolition debates in Pernambuco transformed the practices of political citizenship and marked the first instance of a mass national political mobilization.

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Book SynopsisBased on the case of Kyrgyzstan, while going well beyond it to elaborate a theory of the developing state that comprehends corruption as not merely criminal, but a type of market based on highly rational decisions made by the powerful individuals within, or connected to, the state.

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Book SynopsisNick Megoran explores the process of building independent nation-states in post-Soviet Central Asia through the lens of the boundary between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, using a combination of political, historical, ethnographic, and geographic frames to shed new light on this process.

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Book SynopsisThis volume offers a comprehensive and nuanced portrayal of long-standing problems that contributed to the emergence of crisis and offers insights into the ways Brazilian democracy has performed well despite crisis.Trade Review“This is a timely volume that will attract a broad audience from many disciplines especially given the current political and economic crisis in Brazil. The first two volumes in this series (Democratic Brazil and Democratic Brazil Revisited) quickly became standard sources for many scholars in a variety of fields, and I am confident this one will as well.”—Marshall Eakin, Vanderbilt University

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Book SynopsisThrough a series of essays, this volume argues that every political system is based on a substratum of shared intentions, meanings, and rules of conduct embedded in a culture.

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Book SynopsisThe terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, did symbolic as well as literal damage. This book includes two interlinked essays that proposes the notion of virtual traumato that describe the cultural wound that this name-date both deflects and relays. It examines the historical and philosophical infrastructure of the notion of war on terror.Trade Review"A stimulating tour de force, The Rhetoric of Terror provides a brilliant lexicon of central keywords of our recent political life. Redfield's analysis of '9/11,' 'Ground Zero,' 'the war on terror' and other powerful slogans traces the performative paradoxes that have enabled these phrases to do such terrible work." -- Martin Harries New York University "Topics include the attacks as a mediated spectacle." -The Chronicle of Higher Education "The Rhetoric of Terror exhibits the kind of patience it finds in the literature of testimony: an "endless, scrupulous patience with linguistic deviance and mediation." Marc Redfield unpetrifies the language of emergency, showing us how a single name-date ("9/11") or place-name ("Ground Zero") can function at once as monument, wound, alarm, and oubliette. And in a stunning genealogy of the concept, he recounts how "terror" has haunted both sovereignty and theory from the French Revolution to the present. This is the most wakeful book yet about the war on terror, keeping watch with its subject intently enough to ravel out its many self-divisions and the urgent demands they harbor. " -- -Paul K. Saint-Amour University of Pennsylvania Author of The Copywrights: Intellectual Property and the Literary Imagination "/The Rhetoric of Terror/ is a resolutely convincing case for the power of theory in understanding and contesting the "peculiar speech acts" that sovereign power has enacted and embodied in response to 9/11 and the exceptional conditions it has been used to justify. Redfield's deep commitment to the lessons of Derrida and his knowledge of the major European philosophical formulations of war and terror from 1789 to the present enable him to provide an indispensable analysis of what he eloquently calls "the unruly figurativeness of war". War is a concept that is hideously real, and one that cannot be left in the hands of politicians and combatants. Perhaps the importance of theory for ordinary life has never been greater; no one makes a clearer case than Redfield for the urgent application of critique to the recent and current languages of political and military self-accreditation." -- -David Simpson University of California, Davis "A masterly elaboration of post-structuralist thought on the subject." -Times Higher Education "A very smart and interesting pair of essays reflecting on the cultural significance of 9/11 and the idea of a war on terror." -- -Jonathan Culler Cornell University

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Book SynopsisThe terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, did symbolic as well as literal damage. This book includes two interlinked essays that proposes the notion of virtual traumato that describe the cultural wound that this name-date both deflects and relays. It examines the historical and philosophical infrastructure of the notion of war on terror.Trade Review"A stimulating tour de force, The Rhetoric of Terror provides a brilliant lexicon of central keywords of our recent political life. Redfield's analysis of '9/11,' 'Ground Zero,' 'the war on terror' and other powerful slogans traces the performative paradoxes that have enabled these phrases to do such terrible work." -- Martin Harries New York University "Topics include the attacks as a mediated spectacle." -The Chronicle of Higher Education "The Rhetoric of Terror exhibits the kind of patience it finds in the literature of testimony: an "endless, scrupulous patience with linguistic deviance and mediation." Marc Redfield unpetrifies the language of emergency, showing us how a single name-date ("9/11") or place-name ("Ground Zero") can function at once as monument, wound, alarm, and oubliette. And in a stunning genealogy of the concept, he recounts how "terror" has haunted both sovereignty and theory from the French Revolution to the present. This is the most wakeful book yet about the war on terror, keeping watch with its subject intently enough to ravel out its many self-divisions and the urgent demands they harbor. " -- -Paul K. Saint-Amour University of Pennsylvania Author of The Copywrights: Intellectual Property and the Literary Imagination "/The Rhetoric of Terror/ is a resolutely convincing case for the power of theory in understanding and contesting the "peculiar speech acts" that sovereign power has enacted and embodied in response to 9/11 and the exceptional conditions it has been used to justify. Redfield's deep commitment to the lessons of Derrida and his knowledge of the major European philosophical formulations of war and terror from 1789 to the present enable him to provide an indispensable analysis of what he eloquently calls "the unruly figurativeness of war". War is a concept that is hideously real, and one that cannot be left in the hands of politicians and combatants. Perhaps the importance of theory for ordinary life has never been greater; no one makes a clearer case than Redfield for the urgent application of critique to the recent and current languages of political and military self-accreditation." -- -David Simpson University of California, Davis "A masterly elaboration of post-structuralist thought on the subject." -Times Higher Education "A very smart and interesting pair of essays reflecting on the cultural significance of 9/11 and the idea of a war on terror." -- -Jonathan Culler Cornell University

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Book SynopsisSince the mid-1970s, Lebanon has been at the center of the worldwide rise in sectarian extremism. Its cultural output has both mediated and resisted this rise. This book reviews the role of culture in supporting sectarianism, yet argues for the emergence of a distinctive aesthetic of resistance to it.Trade Review"In this prolonged meditation on violence and its traces, Seigneiurie surveys Lebanese cultural production and provides brief biographical sketches of writers and filmmakers at work... Plot summaries of fiction and film not readily available in the US make this book an especially valuable contribution to the growing body of scholarship on modern Arab culture. High recommended." -Choice "An excellent study of the cultural production of Lebanese society resulting from the period of civil war." -- -Roger Allen University of Pennsylvania "Fascinating, eloquent, and tightly argued, Standing by the Ruins offers a distinctive perspective on relations between cultural productions and politics in times of extreme duress.Across a range of fascinating examples, Seigneiurie shows the ways in which novelists and filmmakers offer alternative visions in a collapsing world that can set the stage for new ways of imagining the future." -- -David Damrosch Harvard University

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Book SynopsisSince the mid-1970s, Lebanon has been at the center of the worldwide rise in sectarian extremism. Its cultural output has both mediated and resisted this rise. This book reviews the role of culture in supporting sectarianism, yet argues for the emergence of a distinctive aesthetic of resistance to it.Trade Review"In this prolonged meditation on violence and its traces, Seigneiurie surveys Lebanese cultural production and provides brief biographical sketches of writers and filmmakers at work... Plot summaries of fiction and film not readily available in the US make this book an especially valuable contribution to the growing body of scholarship on modern Arab culture. High recommended." -Choice "An excellent study of the cultural production of Lebanese society resulting from the period of civil war." -- -Roger Allen University of Pennsylvania "Fascinating, eloquent, and tightly argued, Standing by the Ruins offers a distinctive perspective on relations between cultural productions and politics in times of extreme duress.Across a range of fascinating examples, Seigneiurie shows the ways in which novelists and filmmakers offer alternative visions in a collapsing world that can set the stage for new ways of imagining the future." -- -David Damrosch Harvard University

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Book SynopsisTerms of Politics: Community, Immunity, Biopolitics presents a decade of Esposito’s thought on the origins and possibilities of political theory.Trade Review"Against philosophies of history and for history as thought-this is the break from which Esposito's work wagers an enterprise of deconstruction (of all conceptions of the political up to now) in the name of a new understanding of freedom: between community and immunity, beyond liberalism, beyond the rational animal. He calls it an affirmation of biopolitics, affirmative biopolitics-not for a new inception of the social, but for a redistribution of the energy of thought at the service of another practice of life." -- -Alberto Moreias Texas A&M University

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Book SynopsisBrings unprecedented multidisciplinary expertise to both the historical reception and the contemporary relevance of a thinker who may come to be seen as the defining figure of our political and intellectual momentTrade Review“Massive, varied, and timely. The essays in this collection address the writings of each of these philosophers as well as addressing the writings of Paul himself and the history of scholarship—biblical, theological, political—surrounding Paulinism.”---—Dale Martin, Yale UniversityInformative, insightful, thoughtful, and thought-provoking, 'Paul and the Philosophers' is a strongly recommended addition to academic library History of Philosophy reference collections and supplemental Christian Study reading lists. * —Library Bookwatch *. . . this thick book is a fascinating collection, focusing on how Paul has been and is being interpreted by recent and contemporary philosophers. . . this volume certainly goes in the right direction and deserves close attention. * —Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *Table of ContentsContributors: Gil Anidjar, Ian Balfour, Itzhak Benyamini, Ward Blanton, Roland Boer, Hans Conzelmann, Simon Critchley, Clayton Crockett, Gilles Deleuze, Troels Engberg-Pedersen, Stathis Gourgouris, Paul Holloway, Eleanor Kaufman, Julia Reinhard Lupton, Kenneth Reinhard, Paul Ricoeur, Nils F. Schott, Stanley Stowers, Antonia Szabari, Shmuel Trigano, Hent de Vries, Emma Wasserman, L. L. Welborn, Marc de Wilde, Slavoj eiuek

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Book SynopsisAn examination of Foucault's last thought, centered on his ideas about biopolitics, governmentality, and subjectivity. This volume aims to explain why the politics and policies of neoliberalism are best understood as a government of life whose effects and consequences still remain to be fathomed.Trade Review"The Government of Life does not simply analyze Foucault's ideas about governmentality. It reconsiders Foucault's thought from the standpoint of recent developments in continental and especially Italian philosophy with philosophers such as Giorgio Agamben, Roberto Esposito, and Toni Negri." -- -Michael Behrent Appalachian State University "We are facing an explosion of research on biopolitical questions today, and this volume certainly represents a welcome addition to this growing literature." -Nicolae Morar, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews "Over the last twenty years, few concepts have been more investigated and used than the one of "biopolitics". However, only rarely has it been attempted to compare these uses in their variety and in their contradiction. This volume has the merit of offering a subtle and rich, complete and articulate view on what "biopolitics" means today, and in this way contributes to establish a political grammar for the start of this century." -- -Antonio Negri "An extraordinarily incisive and comprehensive collection of essays by an internationally distinguished list of contributors, Foucault, Biopolitics and Neoliberalism brilliantly discloses how Foucault's thinking continues to challenge and provoke 30 years after his death. No memorializing of Foucault, these essays think with and against his work in a spirit of critical engagement which could provide no better tribute to him." -- -Michael Dillon Professor Emeritus, Lancaster University "The Government of Life reminds us of how prescient Foucault was. We have so few guides in our present age of unbridled neoliberalism and biopolitics; Foucault was one of the few who saw what was coming. The authors in this volume richly plumb Foucault's work in order to make sense of our predicament, to recuperate from the maw of biopolitics a more affirmative way of life. These authors speak to one another and to Foucault through a focus on common texts. In doing so they engage in critical questions about sovereignty, bodies and human life that make for essential reading for anyone interested in the underlying fabric of our time and our politics." -- -James Martel San Francisco State UniversityTable of ContentsList of Abbreviations Introduction Vanessa Lemm and Miguel Vatter Part I. The Nomos of Neoliberalism 1. The Fourth Age of Security Frederic Gros 2. The Law of the Household: Foucault, Neoliberalism and the Iranian Revolution Melinda Cooper 3. The Risks of Security: Liberalism, Biopolitics and Fear Thomas Lemke Part II. Genealogies of Biopolitics 4. A Genealogy of Biopolitics: The Notion of Life in Canguilhem and Foucault Maria Muhle 5. Power over Life, Politics of Death: Forms of Resistance to Biopower in Foucault Francesco Paolo Adorno 6. Identity, Nature, Life: Three Biopolitical Deconstructions Judith Revel Part III. Liberalism between Legality and Governmentality 7. From Reason of State to Liberalism: The Coup d'Etat as Form of Government Roberto Nigro 8. Foucault and Rawls: Government and Public Reason Paul Patton 9. Foucault and Hayek: Republican Law and Liberal Civil Society Miguel Vatter Part IV. Philosophy as Ethics and as Embodiment 10. Parrhesia Between East and West: Foucault and Dissidence Simona Forti 11. The Embodiment of Truth and the Politics of Community: Foucault and the Cynics Vanessa Lemm Notes Bibliography List of Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisAn examination of Foucault’s last thought, centered on his ideas about biopolitics, governmentality, and subjectivity. This volume aims to explain why the politics and policies of neoliberalism are best understood as a “government of life” whose effects and consequences still remain to be fathomed.Trade Review"The Government of Life does not simply analyze Foucault's ideas about governmentality. It reconsiders Foucault's thought from the standpoint of recent developments in continental and especially Italian philosophy with philosophers such as Giorgio Agamben, Roberto Esposito, and Toni Negri." -- -Michael Behrent Appalachian State University "We are facing an explosion of research on biopolitical questions today, and this volume certainly represents a welcome addition to this growing literature." -Nicolae Morar, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews "Over the last twenty years, few concepts have been more investigated and used than the one of "biopolitics". However, only rarely has it been attempted to compare these uses in their variety and in their contradiction. This volume has the merit of offering a subtle and rich, complete and articulate view on what "biopolitics" means today, and in this way contributes to establish a political grammar for the start of this century." -- -Antonio Negri "An extraordinarily incisive and comprehensive collection of essays by an internationally distinguished list of contributors, Foucault, Biopolitics and Neoliberalism brilliantly discloses how Foucault's thinking continues to challenge and provoke 30 years after his death. No memorializing of Foucault, these essays think with and against his work in a spirit of critical engagement which could provide no better tribute to him." -- -Michael Dillon Professor Emeritus, Lancaster University "The Government of Life reminds us of how prescient Foucault was. We have so few guides in our present age of unbridled neoliberalism and biopolitics; Foucault was one of the few who saw what was coming. The authors in this volume richly plumb Foucault's work in order to make sense of our predicament, to recuperate from the maw of biopolitics a more affirmative way of life. These authors speak to one another and to Foucault through a focus on common texts. In doing so they engage in critical questions about sovereignty, bodies and human life that make for essential reading for anyone interested in the underlying fabric of our time and our politics." -- -James Martel San Francisco State UniversityTable of ContentsList of Abbreviations Introduction Vanessa Lemm and Miguel Vatter Part I. The Nomos of Neoliberalism 1. The Fourth Age of Security Frederic Gros 2. The Law of the Household: Foucault, Neoliberalism and the Iranian Revolution Melinda Cooper 3. The Risks of Security: Liberalism, Biopolitics and Fear Thomas Lemke Part II. Genealogies of Biopolitics 4. A Genealogy of Biopolitics: The Notion of Life in Canguilhem and Foucault Maria Muhle 5. Power over Life, Politics of Death: Forms of Resistance to Biopower in Foucault Francesco Paolo Adorno 6. Identity, Nature, Life: Three Biopolitical Deconstructions Judith Revel Part III. Liberalism between Legality and Governmentality 7. From Reason of State to Liberalism: The Coup d'Etat as Form of Government Roberto Nigro 8. Foucault and Rawls: Government and Public Reason Paul Patton 9. Foucault and Hayek: Republican Law and Liberal Civil Society Miguel Vatter Part IV. Philosophy as Ethics and as Embodiment 10. Parrhesia Between East and West: Foucault and Dissidence Simona Forti 11. The Embodiment of Truth and the Politics of Community: Foucault and the Cynics Vanessa Lemm Notes Bibliography List of Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisFugitive Rousseau explores slavery and primitivism in Rousseau’s political writings by contextualizing them in modern European empire and Roman imperial philosophy. Fugitive Rousseau argues against seeing Rousseau as either a nativist or cosmopolitan, either communitarian or liberal, and instead reconstructs a radical conception of freedom based in fugitive political resistance.Trade Review"Jean-Jacques Rousseau obsessively deploys the rhetoric of slavery, but has almost nothing to say about the actually-existing slavery of his own time. Taking off from this striking observation and informed by the distinctive concerns of recent postcolonial and Black Atlantic scholarship, Jimmy Casas Klausen offers a string of illuminating discussions of often-overlooked themes in Rousseau's oeuvre, such as travel and cosmopolitan identity, primitivism and marronage. In place of the familiar contrast between the over-socialized citizen of The Social Contract and the figure of the solitary walker or pre-social savage, Klausen invites us to appreciate those moments where Rousseau shows himself sensitive to the often fragile kinds of freedom that become available when we are able to slip away from dominant and dominating social and political structures. Fugitive Rousseau is an original and stimulating contribution to eighteenth-century studies, as well as a significant work of political theory in its own right." -- -Christopher Brooke University of Cambridge "A complex and fascinating project. The ideas are original and provocative and should advance new thinking in political theory." -- -Anne Norton University of PennsylvaniaTable of ContentsList of Illustrations List of Abbreviations Acknowledgments Introduction I Slavery 1. Displacements 2... and Condensations II Freedom? 3. Cosmopolitanism 4. Nativism 5. Fugitive Freedom Afterword Notes Index

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Book SynopsisAims to resolve three connected problems central to philosophical thought. This book argues that while this kind of contradiction is inescapable, it is so thoroughgoing that, like the Liar's Paradox, it cancels its own meaning.Trade Review"Sometimes Always Never is an exceptionally well-written and clear argument about why logical contradictions can be both permissible and unavoidable, and about how experiencing such a contradiction can help us simultaneously reaffirm the rightness of our beliefs while also recognizing that there may be other beliefs with an equally good claim to being right. Barris persuasively argues that this is neither nonsense nor merely playing with words, and shows how this experience of recognizing the relative correctness of one's views is both very common and extremely important." -- -Matthew Moore Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo "Jeremy Barris analyzes the philosophical paradoxes of commitment and belief with a view to extracting their general structure and offering real ideas about how to live with them, as we must in order to live together successfully in contemporary societies. This is a topical and timely analysis that moves beyond considering the philosophical problems of pluralism and relativism in the abstract to show how we might begin to deal with them here and now." -- -Paul Livingston University of New Mexico "A remarkably ambitious, challenging and thoroughly engaging book. Barris's mastery of a great variety of writings, including literary texts, takes the reader on a fascinating journey through metaphysics, humor, dreams, politics and epistemology. Although he deals with these themes on the highest level, the read never turns into a rough ride. Arguing with stunning clarity, Barris stays solidly at the wheel and brings his readers along in a fearless and cogent narrative, rife with innovative and original thought." -- -Irene Klaver University of North Texas "Students of philosophy and its history have long wondered how any useful knowledge can be obtained in a field where there is little but disagreement and discord. Jeremy Barris's Sometimes Always True proposes a novel, insightful, and widely informed response to this conundrum." -- -Nicholas Rescher University of PittsburghTable of ContentsPreface Acknowledgments Introduction: Sometimes Always True 1 1. Comparing Different Cultural or Theoretical Frameworks: Davidson, Rorty, and the Nature of Truth 2. An Internal Connection between Logic and Rhetoric between Frameworks, and a Legitimate Foundation for Knowledge 3. Pluralism, Legitimate Self-Contradiction, and a Proposed Solution to Some Shared Fundamental Problems of Political and Mainstream Epistemology 4. The Logic of Genuine Political Pluralism and Oscar Wilde's Artificiality of Wit and Style 5. Foucault's Pluralism and the Possibility of Truth and of Ideology Critique 6. How to Be Properly Unnatural: The Metaphysics of Heterosexual Normativity and the Importance of the Concepts of Essence and Nature for Pluralism 7. The Necessary Inconclusiveness of Heideggerian Interpretation of Metaphysics and the Undecided Nature of Essential or Logical Connection 8. The Formal Structure of Metaphysics and The Importance of Being Earnest 9. The Logical Structure of Dreams and Their Relation to Reality Coda: Overviews References Index

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Book SynopsisThis book gives a theoretical and historical account of felon disenfranchisement, showing deep connections between punishment and citizenship practices in the United States. These connections are deployed quietly and yet perniciously as part of a political system of white supremacy, shaping contemporary regimes of punishment and governance.Trade Review"In Punishment and Inclusion: Race, Membership, and the Limits of American Liberalism Andrew Dilts provides a careful, committed, and compelling analysis of connections between race, disenfranchisement, and punishment in the US." -Daniel C. Shartin, Radical Philosophy Review "In the United States today, approximately 5.8 million people have lost the right to vote due to a felony conviction. The disenfranchisement rate, like the incarceration rate, is starkly racialized: 1 in 13 African Americans are excluded from voting, compared to 1 in 56 Americans of other races... Punishment and Inclusion is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand how this situation came to be, and how the practice of felon disenfranchisement (re)produces extreme racial inequality through a colorblind criminal legal system." -Theory & Event "Punishment and Inclusion: Race, Membership, and the Limits of American Liberalism is a powerful, remarkable book. It insightfully explores the nexus of punishment, disenfranchisement, and racism in the United States. Dilts calls on all of us to rethink our longstanding practice of felony disenfranchisement. His argument is subtle and thoroughly convincing. Written in an engaging and lucid style, it is truly a pleasure to read this book." -- -Austin Sarat Amherst College "This book pulls from many different disciplines, perspectives, and sources to construct a compelling argument about the status of American democracy today. It applies theoretical sophistication to these sources while maintaining a strong political commitment. This is a combination that is all too rare in the field of political and legal theory today!" -- -Keally McBride University of San Francisco "...because this study is so theoretically rich, practically engaged, and filled with critical insight, it invites a host of follow-up questions, suggestive for future research growing out of this work." -- Leonard C. Feldman -Law, Culture, and the HumanitiesTable of ContentsPreface Acknowledgments 1 A Productive Injustice 2 Fabricating Figures 3 Neoliberal Penality and the Biopolitics of Homo OEconomicus 4 To Kill a Thief 5 Innocent Citizens, Guilty Subjects 6 Punishing at the Ballot Box 7 Civic Disabilities 8 (Re)figuring Justice Coda Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisOur contemporary challenge, according to the authors, is that a new world has quietly cropped up on us and is, in fact, already here. In this book, the authors invite us on an uncharted walk into barely known worlds when an everyday French idiom, "What's this world coming to?," is used to question our conventional thinking about the world.

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