Social and political philosophy Books

Book SynopsisHow adequate are our theories of globalisation for analysing the worlds we share with others? In this provocative new book, Henrietta Moore asks us to step back and re-examine in a fresh way the interconnections normally labeled 'globalisation'.Trade Review"A provocative analysis of globalization from an anthropological perspective, rich in ethnographic cases from Africa to Japan to the virtual world of the Second Life … This is a timely volume that will provide for valuable debates on epistemology in anthropology." Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute "This ambitious and wide-ranging work draws together diverse threads of contemporary social and cultural thought. Its generous readings of recent ethnography and social theory are noteworthy for their emphasis on inventiveness and hope, in contrast to the dark visions that mark many familiar accounts of globalization." Webb Keane, University of Michigan "A very rich book, both in its challenging ideas and in the vivid ethnographic examples that help to ground these ideas. Most welcome is the plea for a more forward-looking notion of culture and more interest in people's creativity as inspired by new technical and politico-economic developments. The book addresses some major new challenges for anthropology and social science in general. Its originality and its masterful handling of a broad range of theories and ethnographies make it a true source of inspiration." Peter Geschiere, University of Amsterdam Table of ContentsAcknowledgements. Chapter One: Thinking Again. Chapter Two: Still Life. Chapter Three: Slips of the Tongue. Chapter Four: Other Modes of Transport. Chapter Five: Second Nature. Chapter Six: Arts of the Possible. Chapter Seven: New Passions for Difference. Bibliography.

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Book SynopsisAdvocates a policy of gradual integration of Europe in which key decisions about Europe's future are put in the hands of its people, and a 'bipolar commonality' of the West in which a more unified Europe is able to work closely with the United States to build a more stable and equitable international order.Trade Review"There is something refreshingly honest about Jurgen Habermas's take on the European Union ... provide[s] illuminating accesible reflections on three of Habermas's contemporaries, Ronald Dworkin, Jacques Derrida and Richard Rorty... Europe, The Faltering Project is an engaging book that discusses with honesty the issues at the heart of the Lisbon Treaty and the future of the European Union."Book of the day in the Irish Times "Habermas's reflections on Richard Rorty, Jacques Derrida and Ronald Dworkin provide additional context for his later essays. But it is in the second and third parts of the book that Habermas shines most brightly."European VoiceTable of ContentsAuthor’s Preface Translator’s Preface I Portraits 1. “...And to define America, her athletic Democracy.” In Memory of Richard Rorty. 2. How to Answer the Ethical Question: Derrida and Religion 3. Ronald Dworkin – A Maverick among Legal Scholars II. Europe, the Faltering Project 4. An Avantgardistic Intuition for Relevances: The Role of the Intellectual and European Question 5. What is Meant by a “Post-secular Society”? A Discussion on Islam in Europe 6. European Politics at an Impasse: A Plea for a Policy of Graduated Integration 7. The Constitutionalization of International Law and the Problems of Legitimating a Constitution for World Society III. On Reason in the Public Sphere 8. Media, Markets and Consumers: The Quality Press as the Backbone of the Public Sphere 9. Political Communication in Media Society – Does Democracy still have an epistemic Dimension? The Impact of Normative Theory on Empirical Research Afterword: Lessons of the Financial Crisis

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Book SynopsisMax Weber famously argued that the rise of capitalism in early modern Europe was premised on the emergence of a distinctive set of attitudes - including the pursuit of profit for its own sake - which he called the spirit of capitalism'. Today, when capitalism has spread across the globe, the spirit of capitalism would appear to reign supreme. In this important book Bernard Stiegler takes a very different view: what we are witnessing today is not the triumph of the spirit of capitalism but rather its demise, as our contemporary hyper-industrial' societies become increasingly uncontrollable, profoundly irrational and incapable of inspiring hope. Disenchantment and despair have become the everyday lived experiences of countless individuals. Far from being a moment of liberation, May ''68 was just the first symptom of our increasing disenchantment and ''spiritual misery''. The libidinal energy that originally underpinned capitalism has become an unbound force, unleashing drivTrade Review''Capitalism has lost its spirit, not to mention its mind: destroying the desire it claims to channel, incapable of establishing any value beyond narrow calculation, it now needs saving from itself. Revisiting (and revising) Freud and Marcuse, proposing a ‘libidinal ecology’ to help us avoid the disaster ahead, Stiegler might just be the man for the job.'' Martin Crowley, Queens’ College, University of Cambridge "Stiegler asks not how hyperindustrial capital can be reissted today but whether capitalism can be saved from itself and the Pandora's box of dead-end futures that it now generates, from zombie cultures of mass consumerism to the devastation of the biosphere. His bold response is to call for and lay out a new 'libidinal ecology', a project that will become a key reference point for anyone concerned with the central transformative questions of our time." Tom Cohen, State University of New York at AlbanyTable of ContentsIntroduction I. Sociopathology of 1968 1. The paradox of the super-ego in the transformations of capitalism 2. The question of spirit is that of the we 3. Knowledge and the super-ego: towards a new spirit of capitalism 4. Technicity, hostility to civilization, and the intermittency of noetic action 5. The crisis of capitalism as ‘ideological disarray’ and as crisis of spirit after May 1968 6. ‘Artistic critique’ and ‘social critique’, or the jargon of authenticity 7. The recuperation of the ‘ideas of ’68’ by French capitalism and the establishment of control society 8. Digression on the meteorological predictions of the Alaskan Eskimo 9. False problems concerning action 10. Authenticity and singularity: fantasy and the forgetting of what does not exist 11. Supports and relations of production II. The automatization of the super-ego and the passage of desire as original diversion of libidinal energy 12. The historicity of psychoanalytic categories and the illusion of desire as a natural state 13. From psychopathology to sociopathology 14. Contradictions between Marcuse’s Marxism and his Freudianism in relation to struggle (eris) against the risk of decomposition. Moving beyond guilt 15. Technics, super-ego and desublimation 16. Processes of adoption and diversions of libido: Marcuse and the tendency of libidinal energy to fall 17. ‘Liberation of instincts’, technesis and the passage of desire Ð the thrust of the knife 18. The murder of the father, the opening of time and guilt, and ‘the instant of my death henceforth always pending’ 19. Diversions and decompositions 20. The automatization of the super-ego 21. The opposition of Narcissus and Prometheus 22. Ontology and the reality principle 23. Libidinal ecology Conclusion 24. Intoxications, prohibitions, cares 25. The struggle for the life of the spirit 26. Consistence of the health and authority of public power: the freedom of the spirit

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Book SynopsisThomas Hobbes was the first great English political philosopher. His work excited intense controversy among his contemporaries and continues to do so in our own time.Trade Review"The present reviewer is very enthusiastic about this book. It should be recommended to all those that are looking for an understandable and thorough introduction to the moral and political theories of Hobbes."Ethical Perspectives"A sympathetic reading that will be valuable for those interested in Hobbes' enduring philosophical relevance."Political Studies Review "Gert succeeds in clarifying the important parts of Hobbes' philosophy ... Experts will welcome this book as a collection of ideas from an influential authority on Hobbes."Tijdschrift voor Filosofie "Bernard Gert's book provides beginning students with an outstanding introduction to the main philosophical concepts and interpretive debates needed for understanding Hobbes's philosophy. Gert puts Hobbes's works into historical context, plausibly explains his motives, and offers a critical yet constructive account of his moral and political philosophies. Gert's is a model of clarity and thoughtful scholarship."Sharon Lloyd, University of Southern California "Bernard Gert has here produced the new standard interpretation of Hobbes's philosophy. The writing throughout is completely accessible to readers working even at the most elementary level of philosophy, ethics, or political science. Nonetheless, philosophers will like it for its precision and careful analyses of controversial topics; non-philosophers for its clarity and its ability to supplement the original without loss of content. This is THE book on Hobbes for the coming generation."Stefan Baumrin, City University of New York Graduate Center "Hobbes: Prince of Peace, by Bernard Gert, is the long-awaited product of his 45 years of immersion in the Hobbes corpus. In it, Gert he weaves together the many threads of Hobbes's theory into a single comprehensive account. Showing that readers shouldn't always take what Hobbes writes completely literally, Gert argues for an innovative reading of Hobbes's view on the interrelation between key concepts, such as reason, the laws of nature, and the moral law, and for recognizing distinctions that have heretofore been overlooked. This provocative book will surely be an important touchstone for Hobbes scholarship in the future."Rosamond Rhodes, Mount Sinai School of MedicineTable of ContentsPreface. Chapter 1: Hobbes's Life, Times, and General Philosophical Views. Chapter 2: Human Nature. Chapter 3: Hobbes's Moral Theory. Chapter 4: Hobbes's Political Theory. Chapter 5: After Hobbes. Bibliography.

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Book Synopsis* Catherine Malabou is a rising star of French philosophy and has a high reputation in the English speaking world. * She is particularly well known for her innovative arguments about plasticity and the body, and for her work at the intersection of philosophy, feminism and neuroscience.Trade Review"Complex and suggestive … Malabou's concept of plasticity has considerable potential to advance our thinking about gender and essentialism." LSE Review of Books "Confronting the current anti-essentialist doxa, Malabou claims for woman an essence that is never more itself than when it escapes its own clutches. This essentialism is not merely tactical or pragmatic, it is a bold philosophical position that gives back to feminism its prematurely sacrificed reason to be. A rare book, one of the few in history, in which philosophy rises to the challenges posed by sexual difference." Professor Joan Copjec, University of Buffalo "Changing Difference will introduce many new readers to the remarkable work of Catherine Malabou. It extends the profound philosophical iconoclasm of her readings of Derrida, Hegel and Heidegger and her emergent thought of plasticity to an encounter with queer and gender theory on the question of ontological and sexual difference. Yet it is above all a passionate and inspiring meditation on 'what, for a woman, is the life of a philosopher'." Professor Howard Caygill, Kingston University LondonTable of ContentsTranslator's PrefaceInsertIntroduction The Meaning of the "Feminine" Admiring the Wonders of Difference Why the "Feminine"? Isn't the privilege of the feminine determined by a particular situation of "woman"?The Vulva's Schema The Dangers of Deneutralizing Difference, or the Ambivalence of the Feminine The Neuter and EvilGrammatology and Plasticity The Phoenix, The Spider and The Salamander Woman's Possibility, Philosophy's ImpossibilityActing As If Acting Together Acting Without

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Book SynopsisThis is the first comprehensive study of the core philosophical questions posed by terrorism such as: How should we define it? Is it morally distinctive? Can it be morally justified? Igor Primoratz seeks to overcome relativism and double standards that often plague debates about terrorism. He investigates the main ethical approaches to terrorism: in terms of its consequences, rights and justice, supreme emergency, and the collective responsibility of citizens. The book provides a rigorous, yet accessible analysis of a range of moral positions, from the acceptance of terrorism when its consequences are good on balance to its absolute rejection. Primoratz argues that terrorism is almost absolutely wrong. It may be morally justified only when an entire people is facing a true moral disaster, and this should be understood in a highly restrictive way. Conceptual analysis and normative arguments about the practice of terrorism are complemented with case studies of terror-bTrade Review"Probably the best book on terrorism that there is." Times Higher Education "Very rich in content and is both clearly written and carefully thought out ... a provocative work that challenges widespread, deeply held moral, political, and historical beliefs. It is hard to imagine how a person could fail to benefit from this valuable overview." Iyyun "In this lucid and highly topical book Primoratz replaces the ‘moralistic rhetoric’ of the war on terrorism with a coolly and carefully reasoned evaluation of its target. Whether or not one agrees with his provocative conclusions, Primoratz’s rigorous and comprehensive arguments will need to be reckoned with." Paul Gilbert, University of Hull "Primoratz provides an account of terrorism which addresses the topic with the clarity and insight it deserves. Those who are morally perplexed by terrorism should read this book to find out precisely why it is morally unacceptable. Especially valuable is his discussion of state terrorism." Steven P. Lee, Hobart and William Smith CollegesTable of ContentsAcknowledgments vi Introduction 1 1 Defining Terrorism 7 2 State Terrorism and Counterterrorism 30 3 Complicity of the Victims 47 4 The Consequences of Terrorism 65 5 Terrorism, Rights, and Justice 84 6 Terrorism, Supreme Emergency, and Moral Disaster 95 7 Is Terrorism Morally Distinctive? 114 8 Case Study: Terror Bombing of German Cities 126 9 Case Study: Terrorism in the Israeli-Palestinian Confl ict 148 Summing up 170 Notes 176 References and Bibliography 180 Index 189

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Book SynopsisUntil recently, continental philosophy has been tied either to the German tradition of phenomenology or to French post-structuralist concerns with the conditions of language and textuality.Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter 1: Language Chapter 2: Sovereignty, State of Exception and Biopolitics Chapter 3: Homo Sacer, Sacred Life and Bare Life Chapter 4: New Ethics, New Politics Chapter 5: Politics Beyond Good and Evil Chapter 6: Power Beyond Recognition Chapter 7: Indifference Conclusion

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Book Synopsis* Antonio Negri is an internationally famous political thinker, extremely well-known for his hugely influential work Empire * This new book takes the form of a series of letters, written from a prison cell in Italy between October 1981 and April 1982, to a young friend in France.Table of ContentsLetter One: Dry Veneto Letter Two: Working-class movement Letter Three: Souzy Letter Four: Admiratio Letter Five: Jürgen Letter Six: Torino Letter Seven: July ’ Letter Eight: Piazza Statuto Letter Nine: Autonomy Letter Ten: New Year ’ Letter Eleven: Golem ’ Letter Twelve: Civil Warre Letter Thirteen: Separation Letter Fourteen: A jump for joy Letter Fifteen: Carnival Letter Sixteen: Deadline ’ Letter Seventeen: Manhattan Letter Eighteen: Moro Letter Nineteen: Ferocious Alphabets Letter Twenty: Renaissance

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Book Synopsis* Antonio Negri is an internationally famous political thinker, extremely well-known for his hugely influential work Empire * This new book takes the form of a series of letters, written from a prison cell in Italy between October 1981 and April 1982, to a young friend in France.Table of ContentsLetter One: Dry Veneto Letter Two: Working-class movement Letter Three: Souzy Letter Four: Admiratio Letter Five: Jürgen Letter Six: Torino Letter Seven: July ’ Letter Eight: Piazza Statuto Letter Nine: Autonomy Letter Ten: New Year ’ Letter Eleven: Golem ’ Letter Twelve: Civil Warre Letter Thirteen: Separation Letter Fourteen: A jump for joy Letter Fifteen: Carnival Letter Sixteen: Deadline ’ Letter Seventeen: Manhattan Letter Eighteen: Moro Letter Nineteen: Ferocious Alphabets Letter Twenty: Renaissance

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Book SynopsisConfucian political philosophy has recently emerged as a vibrant area of thought both in China and around the globe. This book provides an accessible introduction to the main perspectives and topics being debated today, and shows why Progressive Confucianism is a particularly promising approach.Trade Review"There are so many issues raised in this brilliant book that it is difficult to render justice to them all."—Journal of Chinese Studies "Confucianism is making a comeback. Cultural conservatives will rejoice. But so should political progressives. With his usual insight, balance, and historically informed normative theorizing, Stephen Angle shows that new interpretations of traditional Confucian values such as hierarchy, deference, and ritual can and should challenge oppressive social practices. This original book is both counter-intuitive and persuasive."—Daniel A. Bell, Jiaotong University, Shanghai and Tsinghua University, Beijing "Stephen Angle is one of the most well-informed and actively engaged political philosophers seeking to bring the Confucian tradition into productive dialogue as a full and equal partner with the contemporary West in a mutually edifying endeavor he calls global philosophy. His command of the works of Chinese thinkers such as Mou Zongsan is most impressive and clearly displayed in this latest work."—Philip J. Ivanhoe, City University of Hong Kong "Stephen Angle provides an accessible reconstruction of the political philosophy of Mou Zongsan, an important contemporary Confucian philosopher highly influential in the philosophical circles of Taiwan and Hong Kong. This book opens the door to contemporary developments of Confucianism in China and Taiwan."—JeeLoo Liu, California State University, FullertonTable of ContentsPreface page vii 1 Introduction: Contextualizing Progressive Confucianism 1 2 Self-Restriction: The Indirect Link Between Ethics and Politics 24 3 Rethinking Authority and Rejecting Authoritarianism: Giving the People their Voice 36 4 Debating the Rule of Law and Virtue Politics: Zhang Shizhao, Mou Zongsan, and Today 58 5 The Rights of All Under Heaven: Human Rights and Contemporary Confucianism 74 6 Neither Ethics nor Law: Ritual Propriety as Confucian Civility 91 7 Virtue, Politics, and Social Criticism: Toward Deference without Oppression 111 8 Conclusion: The Shape of Confucian Virtue-Ritual-Politics 136 Notes 147 Bibliography 180 Index and Glossary of Chinese Terms 194

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Book SynopsisPlato''s Republic is one of the most well-known and widely discussed texts in the history of philosophy, but how might we get to the heart of this work today, 2500 years after it was originally composed? Alain Badiou invents a new genre in order to breathe fresh life into Plato''s text and restore its universality. Rather than producing yet another critical commentary, he has retranslated the work from the original Greek and, by making various changes, adapted it for our times. In this innovative reimagining of a classic text, Badiou has removed all references specific to ancient Greek society, from the endless exchanges about the moral courage of poets to those political considerations that were only of interest to the aristocratic elite. On the other hand, Badiou has expanded the range of cultural references: here philosophy is firing on all cylinders, and Socrates and his companions are joined by Beckett, Pessoa, Freud and Hegel. They demonstrate the enduring nature of truTrade Review"I strongly recommend reading Badiou's amusing, erudite, and intelligent book."—Consciousness, Literature and the Arts "Badiou's translation of Plato follows the ancient habit of pre-copyright times: it freely changes the original to make it fit to contemporary conditions. So instead of sophists we get corrupted journalists, instead of soul we get the subject, and instead of Plato’s critique of democracy we get... well, a critique of today’s democracy. The result is a resounding triumph: Plato comes fully alive as our contemporary, as someone who directly addresses our issues. This, not aseptic scholarly work, is the mark of a true fidelity to our past."—Slavoj Zizek "Here is something really remarkable: a complete re-imagining of the founding text of philosophy This book calls itself a hyper-translation, but it is also a repetition with a difference, an utterly contemporary transposition and even sublimation of Plato's Republic. It is always our task to breathe life into the ancients. They feed on our blood. Badiou shows himself a master of vampirism."—Simon Critchley, New School for Social Research, New York "What Badiou's translation of Plato leaves us with is a resounding passion for the truth. It leaves us with a rare sense that politics can once again be associated with courage and justice, and that we have an agency at our disposal that comes in the passionate work of bringing the idea of equality (communism) into existence."—BerfroisTable of Contents Introduction by Kenneth Reinhard Translator’s Preface Author’s Preface to the English Edition Preface Characters Prologue: Conversation in the Villa on the Harbor (327a-336b) 1 Reducing the Sophist to Silence (336b-357a) 2 The Young Men’s and Women’s Pressing Questions (357a-368d) 3 The Origins of Society and the State (368d-376c) 4 The Disciplines of the Mind: Literature and Music (376c-403c) 5 The Disciplines of the Body: Nutrition, Medicine and Physical Education (403c-412c) 6 Objective Justice (412c-434d) 7 Subjective Justice (434d-449a) 8 Women and Families (449a-471c) 9 What is a Philosopher? (471c-484b) 10 Philosophy and Politics (484b-502c) 11 What is an Idea? (502c-521c) 12 From Mathematics to the Dialectic (521c-541b) 13 Critique of the Four Pre-communist Systems of Government: 1. Timocracy and Oligarchy (541b-555b) 14 Critique of the Four Pre-Communist Systems of Government: 2. Democracy and Tyranny (555b-573b) 15 Justice and Happiness (573b-592b) 16 Poetry and Thought (592b-608b) Epilogue: The Mobile Eternity of Subjects (608b-end) Notes Index

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Book SynopsisThis is the first English-language introduction to Peter Sloterdijk, the distinguished German philosopher and controversial public intellectual.Trade Review"Jean-Pierre Couture's long-awaited essay on Peter Sloterdijk is the first attempt to assess his entire work and it is something of a tour-de-force. Peter Sloterdijk is one of the most inventive, provocative and controversial contemporary philosopher. A disciple of Nietzsche and Heidegger in rupture with the tradition of the School of Frankfurt, he is the most French of German philosophers. He was already something of a miracle when he emerged in the late 80s, and he has consistently remained a game changer. Jean-Pierre Couture's study will definitely fulfill the readers's expectations." Sylvere Lotringer, Columbia University "An excellent, intriguing and perceptive study of Peter Sloterdijk�s extraordinary work. This is no small task - Sloterdijk is a prolific writer, who covers a wide range of topics, and who is allusive, provocative and often unsystematic. A model of how to write about a thinker whose thought is still in process."Stuart Elden, University of Warwick � Sloterdijk�s eventful life, colourful style, intellectual ambition, provocative diagnoses, and even more controversial prescriptions are endlessly fascinating.�Church TimesTable of ContentsList of Abbreviations Acknowledgements Psychopolitics Anthropotechnics Spherology Controversy Therapy Conclusion Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisThis is the first English-language introduction to Peter Sloterdijk, the distinguished German philosopher and controversial public intellectual.Trade Review"Jean-Pierre Couture's long-awaited essay on Peter Sloterdijk is the first attempt to assess his entire work and it is something of a tour-de-force. Peter Sloterdijk is one of the most inventive, provocative and controversial contemporary philosopher. A disciple of Nietzsche and Heidegger in rupture with the tradition of the School of Frankfurt, he is the most French of German philosophers. He was already something of a miracle when he emerged in the late 80s, and he has consistently remained a game changer. Jean-Pierre Couture's study will definitely fulfill the readers's expectations." Sylvere Lotringer, Columbia University "An excellent, intriguing and perceptive study of Peter Sloterdijk�s extraordinary work. This is no small task - Sloterdijk is a prolific writer, who covers a wide range of topics, and who is allusive, provocative and often unsystematic. A model of how to write about a thinker whose thought is still in process."Stuart Elden, University of Warwick � Sloterdijk�s eventful life, colourful style, intellectual ambition, provocative diagnoses, and even more controversial prescriptions are endlessly fascinating.�Church TimesTable of Contents Contents List of Abbreviations Acknowledgements Psychopolitics Anthropotechnics Spherology Controversy Therapy Conclusion Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisThe planet is sick. Human beings are guilty of damaging it. We have to pay. Today, that is the orthodoxy throughout the Western world.Trade Review"As stylistically gratifying as he is intellectually lucid, Bruckner presents a clear alternative to the accepted thought on one of this era's hottest topics."—Publishers Weekly "A sizzling new polemic against apocalyptic environmentalism."—San Francisco Chronicle "The best tonic for stale science communications I've read in a while."—Cool Green Science "Pascal Bruckner is a brilliant writer – astute, learned, broad-ranging, mordant, sometimes mischievous, and sometimes prophetic. He is one of the handful of writers around the world who define the intellectual history of our time."—Paul Berman, author of The Flight of the Intellectuals "With his usual verve and eloquence, in The Fanaticism of the Apocalypse Pascal Bruckner offers a bracing and provocative critique of an ever-more-pervasive and fanatical Green politics and ideology. For Bruckner, the ecological catastrophism the latter promotes constitutes less a salutary call to action than a return to the politics of guilt encouraged by exhausted ideologies, religions, and religious institutions, the Catholic Church in particular. This book will please some and consternate others, but its intelligence and originality make it an important book for our times."—Richard Golsan, Texas A&M University "For anyone who has had enough of being harangued for single-handedly destroying the planet for future generations, Pascal Bruckner's new book will come as a welcome breath of fresh and unpolluted air."—NormandieTable of ContentsIntroduction: The Return of Original Sin 1 Part I The Seductive Attraction of Disaster 5 1 Give Me Back My Enemy 7 2 Have the Courage to be Afraid 24 3 Blackmailing Future Generations 49 Part II Progressives Against Progress 69 4 The Last Avatar of Prometheus? 71 5 Nature, a Cruel Stepmother or a Victim? 91 6 Science in the Age of Suspicion 105 Part III The Great Ascetic Regression 133 7 Humanity on a Strict Diet 135 8 The Poverty of Maceration 149 9 The Noble Savage in the Lucerne 162 Epilogue: The Remedy is Found in the Disease 184 Notes 187

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Book SynopsisThis book stands as a testimony to Bauman's belief in the enduring relevance of sociology. But it is also a call to us all to start questioning the world in which we live and to transform ourselves from being the victims of circumstance into the makers of our own history. For that, at the end of the day, is the use of sociology.Trade Review"In What Use is Sociology?, Bauman peels back this hegemonic veneer, asking not what counts as sociology, but rather, what use is sociology? Via this shift, he encourages sociological practitioners to move beyond being blind followers of the latest sociologicaltrends. Instead, through self-reflexive analysis of his own work, Bauman provides a rare backstage glimpse into an engaged sociology that places people’s concerns at its centre as central to its mission."Sociology"What Use is Sociology? is a series of intimate conversations, which mine Bauman’s more than half a century of experience in the disciple—discussions which revisit truisms of the “sociological imagination” and which are littered with interesting anecdotes and asides particular to Bauman’s own intellectual journey. Bauman’s answers reveal the depth of his moral commitments and breadth of his critical engagement." LSE Review of Books "Sociology's principle purpose is to rouse people out of indifference and into action and it is this transition from inert to active knowledge that Bauman convincingly argues can bring about real change." Morning StarTable of ContentsPreface vii Introduction 1 1 What is sociology? 7 2 Why do sociology? 35 3 How to do sociology? 67 4 What does sociology achieve? 105

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Book SynopsisWhat does it mean to live dangerously? This is not just a philosophical question or an ethical call to reflect upon our own individual recklessness. It is a deeply political issue, fundamental to the new doctrine of resilience that is becoming a key term of art for governing planetary life in the 21st Century.Trade Review“Brad Evans and Julian Reid provide a radical critique of the concept of resilience and its traveling companions of vulnerability, insecurity, and catastrophe” NY Journal of Books "One of the most radical and illuminating critiques of the currently fashionable notion of resilience." Saskia Sassen, Columbia University "Anyone interested in political theory after biopolitics must read this book." Cary Wolfe, Rice University "Evans and Reid do more than provide a devastating critique of resilience – they dare us to leave this barren landscape by having the confidence to embrace human life as art, and to assert our poetic and dramatic subjectivities against the dominance of the machine." Mark Duffield, University of Bristol "A tour de force. Brad Evans and Julian Reid mount a powerful indictment of the prophetic image of thought and the oppressive worldview of endless insecurity and threat that such thinking produces. If there is any possibility of welcoming and celebrating a world yet to come, one that is radically different from what currently is, we must, they insist, begin by moving beyond the inertia and defeatism that a catastrophic imaginary generates." Adrian Parr, University of CincinnatiTable of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgements ix 1 Anthropocene 1 2 Insecure by Design 38 3 The Poverty of Vulnerability 68 4 Living Dangerously 91 5 Atmos 120 6 Endgames 141 7 The Art of Politics 167 Notes 204 Select Bibliography 223 Index 231

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Book SynopsisThe concept of democratic freedom refers to more than the kind of freedom embodied by political institutions and procedures. Democratic freedom can only be properly understood if it is grasped as the expression of a culture of freedom that encompasses an entire form of life. Juliane Rebentisch's systematic and historical approach demonstrates that we can learn a great deal about the democratic culture of freedom from its philosophical critics. From Plato to Carl Schmitt, the critique of democratic culture has always been articulated as a critique of its ãaestheticization. Rebentisch defends various phenomena of aestheticization Ð from the irony typical of democratic citizens to the theatricality of the political Ð as constitutive elements of democratic culture and the notion of freedom at the heart of its ethical and political self-conception. This work will be of particular interest to students of Political Theory, Philosophy and Aesthetics.Trade Review"Highly Recomennded" ChoiceTable of ContentsIntroduction: Aestheticization Ð An Apologia Part I: An Antique Diagnosis of a Crisis 1. The Provocative Beauty of Democracy: Plato I. Freedom and Indeterminacy 2. The Slavery of the Tyrant 3. The Unstable Democrat 4. Clear-sighted, Processual and Totalized Weakness of Will 5. Weakness of Will or the Freedom from Oneself 6. The Unfree Opportunist 7. Many Jobs and Much Trespassing 8. The Occurrence of an Inner Nature or the Freedom Toward Self 9. Democrats and Theatre Types 10. Theatrocracy: The Fearlessly Judging Multitude 11. Masses and Mimesis 12. Self-Difference and Perfection Part II: The Ethical-Political Right of Irony 2. The Morality of Irony: Hegel 1. The Beginning of Morality in Socratic Irony 2. Socrates’ Divisive Work 3. Irony and the Practice of Truth 4. Hegel’s Critique of Kant 5. A Socratic Reformulation of the Moral Principle 6. Critique of the Romantics 7. Abstract and Subjective Freedom 8. Evil and the “Natural Will” 9. The Dialectic of Freedom 10. A Less Rigorous Concept of Self-Determination 11. Conflicts with and in Morality 12. Hegel’s Expulsion of Subjective Freedom from Ethical Life 13. The Riddle of Socratic Virtue and the Historicity of the Good 3. The Ethics of Aesthetic Existence: Kierkegaard 1. The Negative Freedom of Socratic Irony and its Romantic Superseding 2. Self-Enhancement and Forgetfulness-of-Self 3. The Impotent Seducer 4. The “Helmeted” Will and its Desperation in the Face of the Aesthetic 5. Repentance and Duty: The Freedom to Choose What One Already Is 6. One Sexism for Another 7. The Love of Divorced Society Ladies 8. Aesthetic and Aristocratic Exception 9. Common sinners 10. The Leap of Faith 11. Repetitions 4. Sovereignty in Romanticism: Schmitt 1. Aestheticization and Neutralization 2. A Look at an Orange 3. Alien Power 4. The Other in the Own and Decision 5. Political Anthropology 6. Schmitt and Kierkegaard 7. Political Theology 8. “Concrete Life” and Decision 9. Schmitt’s Rousseauism 10. Politics as a Critique of Politics Part III: Democracy and Aestheticization 5. The Spectacle of Democracy: Rousseau 1. The Irony of the Actor 2. The Public Expression of Indeterminacy 3. The Actress and Her Parodies 4. The Golden Mean 5. “Thy Magic Powers Reunite What Custom’s Sword Has Divided”: The Feast of the Brothers 6. All Brothers are also Men: The Problem of Male Self-Difference 7. The Two Paradoxes of the Social Contract 8. The Sovereignty of the Legislator and the Judgment of the “Common Man” 9. Another Kind of Equality 10. A Politicizable Boundary 11. The Two Bodies of the People 12. Representation and the Coding of Contingency 6. The Anaestheticization of the Political in Fascism: Benjamin 1. Charisma versus Ratio 2. Politicizing Art 3. Astonishment, Not Sympathy 4. The Look of the Stranger 5. Alienation 6. Adaptability and Revolution 7. Charisma and Democracy 8. Political Theatre 9. Post-Democracy and the Anaesthetizing of the Political: A Look Forward Notes Acknowledgements Origins of the Text Index

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Book SynopsisFrom Gandhi?s salt march to the US civil rights movement and Occupy Wall Street, nonviolent campaigns to promote democracy, human rights and social justice have long played an important transformative role in local, national and global politics.Trade Review"Civil Resistance Today provides the most comprehensive overview available of the issues and approaches in the burgeoning field of strategic nonviolent action. Ideal for classroom use and for anyone who wants to better understand the history and dynamics of this growing phenomenon of popular mass mobilizations for social justice and political freedom."Stephen Zunes, University of San FranciscoTable of Contents1 Conceptualization and Debates 2 Civil Resistance in Theory and Practice 3 Proliferation and Expanding Forms of Civil Resistance 4 How Resistance Happens 5 The State and Civil Resisters 6 Transnational Relations and Intervention 7 Processes, Dynamics & Outcomes 8 Conclusion

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Book SynopsisThe emergence of modern sciences in the seventeenth century profoundly renewed our understanding of Nature. For the last three centuries new ideas of Nature have been continuously developed by theology, politics, economics, and science, especially the sciences of the material world.Trade ReviewListed as one of Resurgence & Ecologist's 2017 Book of the Year"Facing Gaia stands as a toolbox for many disciplines. It harbours crucial insights: we are witnessing a catastrophe in which we are all implicated… Latour argues that it matters what each of us thinks and does. It will be written in clouds, spelt in stone, legible in water."Australian Book Review Table of ContentsContents Introduction First Lecture: On the Instability of the (Notion of) Nature A mutation of the relation to the world ¥ Four ways to be driven crazy by ecology ¥ The instability of the nature/culture relation ¥ The invocation of human nature ¥ The recourse to the �natural world� ¥ On a great service rendered by the pseudo-controversy over the climate ¥ �Go tell your masters that the scientists are on the warpath!� ¥ In which we seek to pass from �nature� to the world ¥ How to face up Second Lecture: How Not to (De-)Animate Nature Disturbing �truths� ¥ Describing in order to warn ¥ In which we concentrate on agency ¥ On the difficulty of distinguishing between humans and nonhumans ¥ �And yet it moves!� ¥ A new version of natural law ¥ On an unfortunate tendency to confuse cause and creation ¥ Toward a nature that would no longer be a religion? Third Lecture: Gaia, a (Finally Secular) Figure for Nature Galileo, Lovelock: Two symmetrical discoveries ¥ Gaia, an exceedingly treacherous mythical name for a scientific theory ¥ A parallel with Pasteur�s microbes ¥ Lovelock too makes micro-actors proliferate ¥ How to avoid the idea of a system? ¥ Organisms make their own environment, they do not adapt to it ¥ On a slight complication of Darwinism ¥ Space, an offspring of history Fourth Lecture: The Anthropocene and the Destruction of (the Image of) the Globe The Anthropocene: an innovation ¥ Mente et Malleo ¥ A debatable term for an uncertain epoch ¥ An ideal opportunity to disaggregate the figures of Man and Nature ¥ Sloterdijk or the theological origin of the image of the Sphere ¥ Confusion between Science and the Globe ¥ Tyrrell against Lovelock ¥ Feedback loops do not draw a Globe ¥ Finally, a different principle of composition ¥ Melancholia, or the end of the Globe Fifth Lecture: How to Convene the Various Peoples (of Nature)? Two Leviathans, two cosmologies ¥ How to avoid war between the gods? ¥ A perilous diplomatic project ¥ The impossible convocation of a �people of nature� ¥ How to give negotiation a chance? ¥ On the conflict between science and religion ¥ Uncertainty about the meaning of the word �end� ¥ Comparing collectives in combat ¥ Doing without any natural religion Sixth Lecture: How (Not) to Put an End to the End of Times? The fateful date of 1610 ¥ Stephen Toulmin and the scientific counter-revolution ¥ In search of the religious origin of �disinhibition� ¥ The strange project of achieving Paradise on Earth ¥ Eric Voegelin and the avatars of Gnosticism ¥ On an apocalyptic origin of climate skepticism ¥ From the religious to the terrestrial by way of the secular ¥ A �people of Gaia�? ¥ How to respond when accused of producing �apocalyptic discourse� Seventh Lecture: The States (of Nature) between War and Peace The �Great Enclosure� of Caspar David Friedrich ¥ The end of the State of Nature ¥ On the proper dosage of Carl Schmitt ¥ �We seek to understand the normative order of the earth� ¥ on the difference between war and police work ¥ How to turn around and face Gaia? ¥ Human versus Earthbound ¥ Learning to identify the struggling territories Eighth Lecture: How to Govern Struggling (Natural) Territories? In the Theater of Negotiations, Les Amandiers, May 2015 ¥ Learning to meet without a higher arbiter ¥ Extension of the Conference of the Parties to Nonhumans ¥ Multiplication of the parties involved ¥ Mapping the critical zones ¥ Rediscovering the meaning of the State ¥ Laudato Si� ¥ Finally, facing Gaia ¥ �Earth, earth!� Works Cited

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Book SynopsisWhite identity is in ferment. White, European Americans living in the United States will soon share an unprecedented experience of slipping below 50% of the population.Trade Review"A profound meditation on 'whiteness' – its past, its present, and its possible future – by one of our leading scholars of race. Deftly interweaving theory, autobiography, and her own personal history of antiracist activism, Linda Martín Alcoff has produced the most impressive philosophical exploration ever of this peculiar 'world-historical' social identity."Charles Mills, Northwestern University "Against the contemporary backdrop of changing racial demographics and widespread condemnation of its relative power and privileges, Linda Alcoff challenges us to think in more nuanced ways about whiteness. This is a compellingly hopeful if sober analysis, offering renewed possibility for a much more modest conception of whiteness, one incorporating a commitment to racial justice as part of its raison d'être. The Future of Whiteness is a book for our times."David Goldberg, University of California, Irvine"Written well and cogently argued, The Future of Whiteness will spark debate in the field and will illuminate racial politics."Political Studies ReviewTable of ContentsAcknowledgments vi Introduction: The Unbearable Whiteness of Being 1 1 An Analytic of Whiteness 39 2 White Exceptionalism 91 3 Double Consciousness 136 Conclusion: A Place in the Rainbow 178 References 205 Index 219

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Book SynopsisWhite identity is in ferment. White, European Americans living in the United States will soon share an unprecedented experience of slipping below 50% of the population.Trade Review"A profound meditation on 'whiteness' – its past, its present, and its possible future - by one of our leading scholars of race. Deftly interweaving theory, autobiography, and her own personal history of antiracist activism, Linda Martín Alcoff has produced the most impressive philosophical exploration ever of this peculiar 'world-historical' social identity."—Charles Mills, Northwestern University "Against the contemporary backdrop of changing racial demographics and widespread condemnation of its relative power and privileges, Linda Alcoff challenges us to think in more nuanced ways about whiteness. This is a compellingly hopeful if sober analysis, offering renewed possibility for a much more modest conception of whiteness, one incorporating a commitment to racial justice as part of its raison d'être. The Future of Whiteness is a book for our times."—David Goldberg, University of California, Irvine"Written well and cogently argued, The Future of Whiteness will spark debate in the field and will illuminate racial politics."—Political Studies ReviewTable of ContentsAcknowledgments vi Introduction: The Unbearable Whiteness of Being 1 1 An Analytic of Whiteness 39 2 White Exceptionalism 91 3 Double Consciousness 136 Conclusion: A Place in the Rainbow 178 References 205 Index 219

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Book SynopsisEverything in their respective positions divides them: Alain Badiou is the thinker of a revitalized communism and Alain Finkielkraut the mournful observer of the loss of values. The two opponents, gathered here for their first-ever debate, have irreconcilable visions. Yet neither is a stranger to controversy, and in this debate they make explicit the grounds of their personal dispute as well as addressing, in a frank and open exchange, their ideas and theories. Guided by Aude Lancelin, the two philosophers discuss subjects as diverse as national identity, Israel and Judaism, May 1968, and renewed popularity of the idea of communism. Their passionate debate is more than just the sum total of their disagreements, however, for neither of them is satisfied with the state of our society or the direction in which its political representatives persist in taking it. They agree that there needs to be change and their confrontation in this volume shows the importance of asking difficulTrade Review"Somewhere beyond belief in the possibility of consensus and disbelief in the mutability of hostilities, these two unlikely interlocutors - powerful defenders of opposed positions - agreed to sit down and have it out. Their heated, sometimes harsh, debate may not persuade you to surrender your own leanings, but it will force you to rethink the terms in which you affirm them and the way you push back against the other side. This is a rare and enlightening interchange."Joan Copjec, University of Buffalo"Anyone who fears that ferocious, intelligent, philosophically informed argument about the state of the world may be a thing of the past should open this book. After reading these debates, vividly translated by Susan Spitzer, in which two of France's leading intellectuals hammer out their starkly opposed positions, they will come away enlightened and invigorated."Peter Dews, University of EssexTable of ContentsForeword by Aude Lancelin 1. National Identity and Nations 2. Judaism, Israel, and Universalism 3. May ’68 4. Communism (Past and Future) Translator’s Notes Bibliography

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Book Synopsis* Alain Badiou is probably the most widely read and influential philosopher in France today. Alain Finkielkraut is also a well-known public intellectual in France * Both have attracted controversy in the past and they hold strongly contrasting political views.Trade Review"Somewhere beyond belief in the possibility of consensus and disbelief in the mutability of hostilities, these two unlikely interlocutors - powerful defenders of opposed positions - agreed to sit down and have it out. Their heated, sometimes harsh, debate may not persuade you to surrender your own leanings, but it will force you to rethink the terms in which you affirm them and the way you push back against the other side. This is a rare and enlightening interchange."Joan Copjec, University of Buffalo"Anyone who fears that ferocious, intelligent, philosophically informed argument about the state of the world may be a thing of the past should open this book. After reading these debates, vividly translated by Susan Spitzer, in which two of France's leading intellectuals hammer out their starkly opposed positions, they will come away enlightened and invigorated."Peter Dews, University of EssexTable of ContentsForeword by Aude Lancelin 1. National Identity and Nations 2. Judaism, Israel, and Universalism 3. May ’68 4. Communism (Past and Future) Translator’s Notes Bibliography

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Book SynopsisUnde malum from where does evil come? That is the question that has plagued humankind ever since Eve, seduced by the serpent, tempted Adam to taste the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.Table of ContentsPrefaceI Reveries of Solitary Walkers II Tangled IdentitiesIII Hic et Nunc

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Book SynopsisUnde malum from where does evil come? That is the question that has plagued humankind ever since Eve, seduced by the serpent, tempted Adam to taste the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.Table of ContentsPrefaceI Reveries of Solitary Walkers II Tangled IdentitiesIII Hic et Nunc

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Book SynopsisIn a well-known text called The Communist Hypothesis', first published in 2007, the renowned philosopher Alain Badiou breathed fresh life into the idea of communism as an intellectual representation that provides a critical perspective on existing politics and offers a systemic alternative to capitalism. Now, in the course of this wide-ranging conversation with Peter Engelmann, Alain Badiou explains why he continues to value the idea of communism against the background of current social crises and despite negative historical experiences. From the anticipation of a communism without a state to the problem of the concept of democracy and an analysis of capitalism as a system, the two thinkers discuss the key political issues of our time. Whilst explaining his political philosophy, Badiou also reflects on current socio-political developments such as the turmoil in the Middle East and the situation in China. This compelling dialogue is both a highly topical contribution toTrade Review"We here eavesdrop gratefully on an extraordinary, wide-ranging conversation between two men steeped in the European cultural and philosophical tradition - one a continuing believer in a communist ideal and the other a one-time prisoner of the Stasi." Colin Crouch, Vice-president for Social Sciences, British Academy "Philosophy and the Idea of Communism sees Badiou give a lively – indeed frequently surprising – presentation of his views. Most notably, it has the virtue of opening up a number of novel lines of inquiry into Badiou�s relationship to Marx and Marxism."Marx and Philosophy

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Book SynopsisIn a well-known text called The Communist Hypothesis , first published in 2007, the renowned philosopher Alain Badiou breathed fresh life into the idea of communism as an intellectual representation that provides a critical perspective on existing politics and offers a systemic alternative to capitalism.Trade Review"Philosophy and the Idea of Communism sees Badiou give a lively – indeed frequently surprising – presentation of his views. Most notably, it has the virtue of opening up a number of novel lines of inquiry into Badiou�s relationship to Marx and Marxism."Marx and Philosophy

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Book SynopsisWritten in the early stages of the Cold War by one of the most controversial political and legal thinkers of the twentieth century, Carl Schmitt's two short dialogues on power and space bring together several dimensions of his work in new ways.Trade Review"These short dialogs, written in the 1950s when Carl Schmitt was no longer center stage, are primers on two essential themes of his thought: the inescapable reality of power that cannot be normatively wished away; and the spatial shift from a terrestrial to a maritime view of the world, which unleashes the total mobilization of technology that shapes global modernity."William Rasch, Indiana UniversityTable of ContentsTable of Contents Editors� Introduction Translator�s Note and Acknowledgments Carl Schmitt�s Prologue to the 1962 Spanish Edition (1961/1962) Dialogue on Power and Access to the Holder of Power Dialogue on New Space Works Consulted Notes Index

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Book SynopsisWritten in the early stages of the Cold War by one of the most controversial political and legal thinkers of the twentieth century, Carl Schmitt's two short dialogues on power and space bring together several dimensions of his work in new ways.Trade Review"These short dialogues, written in the 1950s when Carl Schmitt was no longer center stage, are primers on two essential themes of his thought: the inescapable reality of power that cannot be normatively wished away; and the spatial shift from a terrestrial to a maritime view of the world, which unleashes the total mobilization of technology that shapes global modernity."William Rasch, Indiana UniversityTable of ContentsTable of Contents Editors� Introduction Translator�s Note and Acknowledgments Carl Schmitt�s Prologue to the 1962 Spanish Edition (1961/1962) Dialogue on Power and Access to the Holder of Power Dialogue on New Space Works Consulted Notes Index

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Book SynopsisIn recent years, feminist and queer theory have effectively disavowed both the human and revolutionary politics.Trade Review"A remarkable book, worthy of the twenty-first century and the new demands placed on theory and practice. Cornell and Seely argue for a spirit of revolution that is at once wary of the false hegemony of man, while nevertheless insisting on the promise of a new politics that finds its energy in sexual difference and queerness. This book will generate lively debate; it is not one more “turn” towards inhuman, posthuman or non-human materialisms, but it is all the more revolutionary for holding on to struggles of the polity."Claire Colebrook, Penn State"The Spirit of Revolution is a courageous, very engaging and timely work that packs a real revolutionary punch. Supplementing political economy, the authors speak directly and brilliantly to the erotic, racial, and spiritual challenges of self-transformation that must be integral parts of any attempt at re-imagining the urgently needed socialist alternative to contemporary capitalism. This is engaged philosophy at its best, with great power to expand consciousness and deepen our ethical responses to the planetary dimensions of crisis that we must now address. An extremely important philosophical work."Paget Henry, Brown UniversityTable of ContentsIntroduction1. Legacies of Erotic Transformation: Feminism and Revolution2. Burning Problems of Our Time: Revolution, Erotic Ethics, and Political Spirituality3. An Other Future: The Erotics of Revolution, The Psychosis of Colonialism, and the Haunting Promise of a New Humanity4. Undertaking Man, Making the Human: Toward a New CeremonyConclusion

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Book SynopsisIn recent years, feminist and queer theory have effectively disavowed both the human and revolutionary politics. In the face of massive geopolitical crisis, posthumanists have called for us to reconsider fundamentally the superiority and centrality of mankind and the human, and question how Man can presume to change the world by revolutionary action, particularly when Marx's dreams seem to have been swept into the dustbin of history.This provocative book reaffirms what is most basic in feminism the attack on the universality and sovereignty of Man but contends that the only way this can mean anything other than pessimistic rhetoric is to embrace human agency and the struggle against colonialism and capitalism. In a series of creolized readings Foucault with Ali Shari'ati, Lacan with Fanon, and Spinoza with Sylvia Wynter the authors demonstrate what is at stake in the ongoing debate between humanism and posthumanism, putting this debate in the context of contemporary Trade Review"A remarkable book, worthy of the twenty-first century and the new demands placed on theory and practice. Cornell and Seely argue for a spirit of revolution that is at once wary of the false hegemony of man, while nevertheless insisting on the promise of a new politics that finds its energy in sexual difference and queerness. This book will generate lively debate; it is not one more “turn” towards inhuman, posthuman or non-human materialisms, but it is all the more revolutionary for holding on to struggles of the polity."Claire Colebrook, Penn State"The Spirit of Revolution is a courageous, very engaging and timely work that packs a real revolutionary punch. Supplementing political economy, the authors speak directly and brilliantly to the erotic, racial, and spiritual challenges of self-transformation that must be integral parts of any attempt at re-imagining the urgently needed socialist alternative to contemporary capitalism. This is engaged philosophy at its best, with great power to expand consciousness and deepen our ethical responses to the planetary dimensions of crisis that we must now address. An extremely important philosophical work."Paget Henry, Brown UniversityTable of ContentsIntroduction1. Legacies of Erotic Transformation: Feminism and Revolution2. Burning Problems of Our Time: Revolution, Erotic Ethics, and Political Spirituality3. An Other Future: The Erotics of Revolution, The Psychosis of Colonialism, and the Haunting Promise of a New Humanity4. Undertaking Man, Making the Human: Toward a New CeremonyConclusion

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Book SynopsisWhat would happen if we could stroll through the revolutionary history of the 20th century and, without any fear of the possible responses, ask the main protagonists - from Lenin to Che Guevara, from Alexandra Kollontai to Ulrike Meinhof - seemingly naïve questions about love? Although all important political and social changes of the 20th century included heated debates on the role of love, it seems that in the 21st century of new technologies of the self (Grindr, Tinder, online dating, etc.) we are faced with a hyperinflation of sex, not love. By going back to the sexual revolution of the October Revolution and its subsequent repression, to Che?s dilemma between love and revolutionary commitment and to the period of ?68 (from communes to terrorism) and its commodification in late capitalism, the Croatian philosopher Srecko Horvat gives a possible answer to the question of why it is that the most radical revolutionaries like Lenin or Che were scared of the radicality of love. What isTrade Review"The relationship between politics and sexual love has been so often muddled and mystified by the Left – from the traditional Communist erotic conservatism through the ridiculous pseudo-revolutionary excesses of the 'sexual revolution' up to the madness of Political Correctness. In his wonderfully readable book, Horvat simply sets the record straight: first, he shamelessly speaks about love, not about sex which has long ago lost its subversive edge; second, he asserts the radicality of love as a force which resists the very foundations of liberal permissiveness. A book which will turn Communists into lovers and lovers into Communists!"—Slavoj Žižek "If you were a dictator, what would you find most useful to control and suppress? This essay gives the answer: desire, love, sexuality, pleasure, whose force always threatens to make social order implode, from Lenin's Russia to Khomeini's Iran. But love is not only what dictators dream to suppress. It is the magma of revolutionary politics. The Radicality of Love is at once scintillating and incandescent and offers a profound reflexion on the reactionary and revolutionary politics of love."—Eva IllouzTable of Contents Foreplay: To Fall in Love, or Revolution 1. Love in the Age of Cold Intimacies 2. Desire in Tehran: What Are the Iranians Dreaming Of? 3. Libidinal Economy of the October Revolution 4. The Temptation of Che Guevara: Love or Revolution 5. �What Do I Care about Vietnam, if I Have Orgasm Problems?� Afterplay: The Radicality of Love

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Book SynopsisWhat is the source of Obama's power? How is it that, after suffering a humiliating defeat in the 2010 mid-term elections, Obama was able to turn the situation around, deftly outmaneuvering his opponent and achieving a decisive victory in the November 2012 presidential election? In this short and brilliant book, Jeffrey Alexander and Bernadette Jaworsky argue that neither money nor demography can explain this dramatic turnaround. What made it possible, they show, was cultural reconstruction. Realizing he had failed to provide a compelling narrative of his power, the President began forging a new salvation story. It portrayed the Republican austerity budget as a sop to the wealthy, and Obama as a courageous hero fighting for plain folks against the rich. The reinvigorated cultural performance pushed the Tea Party off the political stage in 2011, and Mitt Romney became fodder for the script in 2012. Democrats painted their Republican opponent as a backward-looking elitist, a Bain-capitalist whose election would threaten the civil solidarity upon which democracy depends. Real world events can spoil even the most effective script. Obama faced monthly unemployment numbers, the daunting Bin Laden raid, three live debates, and Hurricane Sandy. The clumsiness of his opponent and his own good fortune helped the President, but it was the poise and felicity of his improvisations that allowed him to succeed a second time. Converting events into plot points, the President demonstrated the flair for the dramatic that has made him one of the most effective politicians of modern times. While persuasively explaining Obama's success, this book also demonstrates a fundamental but rarely appreciated truth about political power in modern democratic societies namely, that winning power and holding on to it have as much to do with the ability to use symbols effectively and tell good stories as anything else.Trade Review"Jeffrey Alexander and Bernadette Jaworsky have written a rigorous, concise book on Barack Obama's enactment of his presidency. In a deep analysis of a narrow theme, Alexander and Jaworsky meticulously chart a clear examination through the political froth. It is highly readable."Irish Examiner"Alexander and Jaworsky recreate, in a completely accessible manner, the dramatic roller-coaster ride that was the 2012 campaign for the presidency. The result is a highly entertaining narrative that returns us to the improbable events of that year and puts us right in the middle of what feels like a cinematic political thriller. High marks for both storytelling and scholarship." Stanley Fish, Florida International University"In a post-policy world, symbols matter more than ever, making Alexander and Jaworky's thoughts on the symbolism of Barack Obama both relevant and insightful.'' Alan Wolfe, Director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life, Boston College, MA"Obama Power is a rare book. It is a page-turner, so well written and engaging that it is difficult to put down. But it also presents a compelling narrative on the performance of politics in Obama’s reelection campaign, which resulted in a decisive victory. Jeffrey C. Alexander and Bernadette N. Jaworsky’s illuminating and captivating study is a must-read." William Julius Wilson, Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor, Harvard University"In late 2010, following an overwhelming Democratic setback in the off-year elections, political pundits of all stripes predicted Obama’s probable defeat in 2012. Why didn’t this happen? Standard accounts emphasize improvement in the economy, superior organization, demographic shifts, Republican in-fighting, and Romney’s inept campaign. While Alexander and Jaworsky do not directly challenge these explanations, they do convincingly argue that they are incomplete. All of them fail to consider the power of the cultural narratives, symbols, and beliefs that Obama successfully evoked in his messages in the two years after 2010 that resulted in his victory in November 2012. This short book provides a fine-grained analysis of how Obama offered voters culturally resonant narratives to reframe how the country viewed his presidency to rekindle the enthusiastic connection he developed with voters 2008 that had been significantly diminished during his first two years in office. As Alexander and Jaworsky compellingly demonstrate, effective explanations for the outcomes of political contestation require including the central role that culture plays in them." Marc Howard Ross, William Rand Kenan, Jr. Professor Emeritus, Bryn Mawr College"In Obama Power, Jeffrey C. Alexander, our most influential social and cultural theorist of the last thirty years, and his co-author Bernadette N. Jaworsky deploy performance theory to explain Obama’s unexpected landslide in the 2012 Presidential election. This highly readable and accessible book skillfully draws on social media as well as standard forms of political communication. The authors demonstrate how Obama’s conservative opponents failed to derail his focused performance of ‘univeralism and solidarity’ that swept him once more to victory. Alexander and Jaworsky’s exciting new take on the 2012 US presidential election is a must read for concerned citizens as well as academics interested in evolving practices of American democracy." Mabel Berezin, Cornell UniversityTable of ContentsPrefaceIntroductionChapter 1 The Performance of PoliticsChapter 2 Symbolic DeflationChapter 3 Re-Inflation Chapter 4 Setting the StageChapter 5 Unfolding the DramaChapter 6 Pulling AheadChapter 7 Harrowing Home StretchChapter 8 Demography, Money, and Social MediaConclusion

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Book SynopsisA powerful reappraisal of radicalism in the life and work of William Morris.Trade Review"The editors and contributors have done something that has been sorely needed in Morris studies: they have taken seriously the unique qualities of his contributions to nineteenth-century art and politics, while simultaneously showing how important his radical thought is for the twenty-first century. With this collection, Morris's incisive influence on current political and cultural theory finally can be seen and acknowledged." Bradley J. Macdonald, Department of Political Science, Colorado State University

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Book SynopsisDescribing and documenting the actual effects of computer networks on people's experience in the workplace, marketplace, and community, the book argues that the conditions of surveillance and corporate control far outweigh those of information access as key elements in the social and political presence of network computing.Trade ReviewThis is a welcome and provocative addition to the growing literature on the politics of the Internet. In addition to its rich intellectual texture and mother-lode of information about computer hard- and software, it is a quick read because the author has a sharpe tongue and makes excellent points. -- Ted Becker * American Political Science Review *The book presents an originality that is refreshing. Few authors have analysed information technology from the “meta-perspective” of Barney. While reading the book I spontaneously felt “this is a book that concerns everyone.” Ideally, the text should be recommended to all students involved in economic, technical and philosophical disciplines. Prometheus Wired is superbly written and thought provoking. -- Fabian von Schéele * Telecommunications Policy *Table of ContentsFiguresAcknowledgments1 Prometheus Wired2 On Technology3 Networks4 The Political Economy of Network Technology I5 The Political Economy of Network Technology II6 A Standing Reserve of Bits7 Government, Politics, and Democracy: Network Technology as Stand-in NotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisThis book describes democracy as a contest of values. Equality and liberty, like justice and fairness, are among our ultimate ideals, but no single value is supreme.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments1 Democracy and Value Pluralism2 What Is the People? A Conceptual History of Civil Society3 From Ancient Virtues to Modern Values: Positive Liberty and the Creative Will4 The Teleology of Modern Time: Negative Liberty and Human Nature5 Splitting the Individual: The Subatomic Values of Liberalism6 Conservatism and the Temporal Order7 Socialism and the Power of Social Unity8 Democracy as a Pattern of DisagreementReferencesIndex

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Book SynopsisKirstie McClure offers a major reinterpretation of John Locke's thought that is important not only for the light it sheds on Locke, but also for the questions it raises about liberalism and rights-based theories of politics.Trade ReviewJudging Rights presents an understanding of Lockean thought that bridges the gaps between apparent contradictions and inconsistencies.... McClure's Locke offers a theistic but not a scriptural point of view. His works, whether Tracts or Treatises, line out the human position in a hierarchical order of creation. Humans are subject to God's law but also adopt the law to guide their actions. * American Political Science Review *McClure draws out some interesting insights into the nature of Locke's political philosophy.... In thus developing a new perspective on Locke's Treatises, McClure has produced a work of scholarship that is deserving of her subject. * Review of Metaphysics *

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Book SynopsisCharles Mills makes visible in the world of mainstream philosophy some of the crucial issues of the black experience.Trade ReviewA collection of eight engagingly written, erudite essays.... There are two major themes here: the first concerns the philosophical professoriate, which is predominately—and, the author contends, dominatingly—white; the second is whether or not race moderates philosophical consciousness. These are deep questions, and in dealing with them, Mills address a broad spectrum of issues: black-Jewish relations, gender (the progress of women vs. blacks), white supremacy, racism, genocide, jurisprudence, and much more. The thought of philosophers and others from ancient times to the present is given incisive analyses, as are epistemological, metaphysical, ethical, political, sociological, and literary considerations. The subject of this book is long overdue for airing. Highly recommended for a variety of pertinent academic and larger public library collections. * Library Journal *According to Mills... racism is not an aberration of an otherwise nearly ideal American democratic political system but is part of the political fabric, inherited from European imperialists. Mills examines emergent critical race theory and its movement beyond the political and sociological arena to the venerable territory of philosophy. Copiously researched and footnoted, it is an outstanding work that addresses one of the many racial issues of our times. * Booklist *The effort to make the reality of racism and black life visible is achieved— with a great deal of thought-provoking ideas. * Ethics *Table of ContentsPrefaceChapter 1. Non-Cartesian Sums: Philosophy and the African-American ExperienceChapter 2. Alternative EpistemologiesChapter 3. "But What Are You Really?' The Metaphysics of RaceChapter 4. Dark Ontologies: Blacks, Jews, and White SupremacyChapter 5. Revisionist Ontologies: Theorizing White SupremacyChapter 6. The Racial PolityChapter 7. White Right: The Idea of a Herrenvolk EthicsChapter 8. Whose Fourth of July? Frederick Douglass and "Original Intent"Notes Index

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Book SynopsisIn his recent book Against Liberalism, philosopher John Kekes argued that liberalism as a political system is doomed to failure by its internal inconsistencies. In this companion volume, he makes a compelling case for conservatism as the best...Trade ReviewA valuable contribution to political theory.... A challenging work. * First Things *John Kekes's project has been to encourage others to be realistic about what it takes to make good lives for themselves in a troubled, flawed, and apparently contingent universe. -- Preston Jones, Cambridge School of Dallas * Touchstone *Kekes must be lauded for attempting to present a coherent and systematic defense of conservatism. -- Barry Alan Shain, Colgate University * Modern Age *Students with a serious interest in political theory and philosophy would certainly benefit from this slim volume, which... is likely to become a classic in its field. * Choice *This is a book which... offers a reasoned and often astute defense of a moderate conservatism which deserves to be taken seriously, both by conservatives themselves and their critics. -- John Horton, Keele University, UK * Philosophical Investigations *

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Book SynopsisHow should democratic societies define justice for cultural minority groups, and how might such justice be secured? This book is a nuanced and judicious response to a critical issue in political theory—the challenge of according equal respect and...Trade ReviewBased on her own experiences as a citizen of Canada, a country in which cultural minorities play an important role in social and political issues, Monique Deveaux's Cultural Pluralism and Dilemmas of Justice stands as a relevent work in the field of political science.... Deveaux's ideas seem to be fair and well-argued, positing deliberative liberalism as a viable alternative to traditional liberal theories. -- Ruling Barragan Yanez * www.polylog.org *Monique Deveaux's principal claims in this extremely clear and well-written book is that if modern liberal democracies are to do justice to the claims of minority cultural groups in their midst, they are going to have to be much more democratic, and perhaps somewhat less liberal, than they have heretofore been. -- Daniel M. Weinstock, University of Montreal * Ethics *The writing style is very sophisicated.... The text appears to have been well edited and contains a large and useful bibliography. Recommended for graduate and faculty collections. * Choice *Debates about cultural pluralism have dominated democratic theory in the last decades.... Monique Deveaux offers us a comprehensive assessment of these debates, considering proponents of liberal toleration, liberal perectionists such as Kymlicka and Raz, deliberative democrats such as Young and Benhabib, as well as offering her own deliberative brand of liberalism. Her discussion of these arguments is judicious and subtle.... One of the merits of Deveaux's reconstruction of the debates about cultural pluralism is to show that a tolerant, respectful and multiperspectival polity needs to develop institutions that express robust normative commitments to respect and equality. -- James Bohman * Philosophy in Review *This is a pithy little book, and Deveaux's analysis of how existing models of liberalism and democracy fail to secure rich cultural pluralism is enlightening. -- Alice Hearst, Smith College * The Law and Politics Book Review *

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Book SynopsisEvil is the most serious of our moral problems.Trade ReviewSince it reflects aspects of human nature—envy, ambition, the need for belonging—evil is a permanent threat. We can best combat it, John Kekes believes, by cultivating 'moral imagination.'... An education in the litearary and philosophical classics helps nourish the moral imagination.... There is much to admire in this lucid and morally serious book. Its concreteness sets it apart from the arid abstraction of many works of analytic philosophy. Its insistence on the existence of evil is refreshing in an age of academic relativism. Its modest conclusions are wise and generally right. * First Things *The principal value of The Roots of Evil is that the author squarely faces the challenge of evil, a task of no small importance when Islamofascism and much else are testing the mettle of the West. While some obsess over the 'root causes' of the appalling things people do to one another, Kekes reminds us that evil actions find their origin in the individual. His book closes with some sensible if currently unfashionable recommendations for coping with evil: attending to its internal conditions by exposing people to the humanities and attending to its external conditions by a firm commitment to punishment. Indeed, the book contains much by way of sturdy good sense. * The New Criterion *This is an interesting, systematic, nondogmatic, and informed attempt to make sense of evil on secular grounds. * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisStories of the missing offer profound insights into the tension between how political systems see us and how we see each other. The search for people who go missing as a result of war, political violence, genocide, or natural disaster reveals how forms of governance that objectify the person are challenged. Contemporary political systems treat persons instrumentally, as objects to be administered rather than as singular beings: the apparatus of government recognizes categories, not people. In contrast, relatives of the missing demand that authorities focus on a particular person: families and friends are looking for someone who to them is unique and irreplaceable. In Missing, Jenny Edkins highlights stories from a range of circumstances that shed light on this critical tension: the aftermath of World War II, when millions in Europe were displaced; the period following the fall of the World Trade Center towers in Manhattan in 2001 and the bombings in London in 2005; seaTrade ReviewIn this scholarly but deeply affecting analysis, Edkins discusses how societies have responded to people who have disappeared—as a consequence of war, state violence, and natural disaster. She focuses on 'the search for those missing in the aftermath' of WWII, Argentina's 'dirty war,' the Sept. 11 attacks, and the 2005 London bombings. While the loss of someone 'may appear to be a very private experience' and 'outside politics,' Edkins writes that 'our fates are intertwined,' and our responses to the loss of even one member of our community tells us what kind of society we are. Most potent is her examination of those missing in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks—for its heartbreaking detail and for the author’s ability to derive larger theories from her observations. She reminisces about how 'the cloud of dust that hung over Manhattan for some days would be all that lingered of many of the dead.' She meditates upon the psychology of the searcher hanging photographs of their missing friend or relative, and how those missing persons posters, which remained hanging long after the tragedy, were a 'collective scream... a refusal to close over the trauma of a loss' and 'a symbolic reminder too that these people are indeed missing... not dead. 'The dead have corpses.' A haunting and philosophical elegy. * Publishers Weekly *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Missing Persons, Manhattan 2. Displaced Persons, Postwar Europe 3. Tracing Services 4. Missing Persons, London 5. Forensic Identification 6. Missing in Action 7. Disappeared, Argentina 8. Ambiguous Loss ConclusionNotes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisIn the third edition of his classic work, revised extensively and updated to include recent developments on the international scene, Jack Donnelly explains and defends a richly interdisciplinary account of human rights as universal rights. He shows that any conception of human rights—and the idea of human rights itself—is historically specific...Trade ReviewEvery once in a while a book appears that treats the leading issues of a subject in such a clear and challenging manner that it becomes central to understanding that subject. Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice is just such a book. Donnelly's interpretations are clear and argued with zest. * American Political Science Review *This wide-ranging book looks at all aspects of human rights, drawing on political theory, sociology, and international relations as well as international law. * Foreign Affairs *What Donnelly does better than anyone else is to lay before the reader a coherent conceptual framework for an understanding of international human rights as an operative part of international life. The book remains at the top of any bibliography of indispensable books dealing with human rights. * Human Rights & Human Welfare *Table of ContentsPreface to the Third EditionIntroductionPart I. Toward a Theory of Human Rights1. The Concept of Human RightsHow Rights WorkSpecial Features of Human RightsHuman Nature and Human RightsHuman Rights and Related PracticesAnalytic and Substantive TheoriesThe Failure of Foundational AppealsCoping with Contentious Foundations2. The Universal Declaration ModelThe Universal DeclarationThe Universal Declaration ModelHuman Dignity and Human RightsIndividual RightsInterdependence and IndivisibilityThe State and International Human RightsRespecting, Protecting, and Providing Human RightsRealizing Human Rights and Human Dignity3. Economic Rights and Group RightsThe Status of Economic and Social RightsGroup Rights and Human Rights4. Equal Concern and RespectHegemony and Settled NormsAn Overlapping Consensus on International Human RightsMoral Theory, Political Theory, and Human RightsEqual Concern and RespectToward a Liberal Theory of Human RightsConsensus: Overlapping but BoundedPart II. The Universality and Relativity of Human Rights5. A Brief History of Human RightsPolitics and Justice in the Premodern Non-Western WorldThe Premodern WestThe Modern Invention of Human RightsThe American and French RevolutionsApproaching the Universal DeclarationExpanding the Subjects and Substance of Human Rights6. The Relative Universality of Human Rights"Universal" and "Relative"The Universality of Internationally Recognized Human RightsThree Levels of Universality and ParticularityRelative Universality: A Multidimensional Perspective7. Universality in a World of ParticularitiesCulture and the Relativity of Human RightsAdvocating Universality in a World of ParticularitiesPart III. Human Rights and Human Dignity8. Dignity: Particularistic and Universalistic Conceptions in the WestDignitas: The Roman Roots of DignityBiblical Conceptions: Kavod and Imago DeiKantRights and Dignity in the WestDignity and the Foundations of Human Rights9. Humanity, Dignity, and Politics in Confucian ChinaCosmology and EthicsConfucians and the Early Empires“Neo-Confucianism” and Song Imperial RuleTwentieth-Century Encounters with “Rights”Human Rights and Asian Values10. Humans and Society in Hindu South AsiaCosmologySocial PhilosophyCasteHindu UniversalismOpposition to Caste DiscriminationHinduism and Human Rights in Contemporary IndiaPart IV. Human Rights and International Action11. International Human Rights RegimesThe Global Human Rights RegimePolitical Foundations of the Global RegimeRegional Human Rights RegimesSingle-Issue Human Rights RegimesAssessing Multilateral Human Rights MechanismsThe Evolution of Human Rights Regimes12. Human Rights and Foreign PolicyHuman Rights and the National InterestInternational Human Rights and National IdentityMeans and Mechanisms of Bilateral ActionThe Aims of Human Rights PolicyForeign Policy and Human Rights PolicyThe Limits of International ActionAppendix: Arguments against International Human Rights PoliciesPart V. Contemporary Issues13. Human Rights, Democracy, and DevelopmentThe Contemporary Language of LegitimacyDefining DemocracyDemocracy and Human RightsDefining DevelopmentDevelopment-Rights TradeoffsDevelopment and Civil and Political RightsMarkets and Economic and Social RightsThe Liberal Democratic Welfare State14. The West and Economic and Social RightsThe Universal Declaration of Human RightsDomestic Western PracticeThe International Human Rights CovenantsFunctional and Regional OrganizationsFurther Evidence of Western SupportUnderstanding the Sources of the MythWhy Does It Matter?15. Humanitarian Intervention against GenocideIntervention and International LawHumanitarian Intervention and International LawThe Moral Standing of the StatePolitics, Partisanship, and International OrderChanging Conceptions of Security and SovereigntyJustifying the Anti-genocide NormChanging Legal Practices“Justifying” Humanitarian InterventionMixed Motives and ConsistencyPolitics and the Authority to InterveneJudging the Kosovo InterventionDarfur and the Future of Humanitarian Intervention16. Nondiscrimination for All: The Case of Sexual MinoritiesThe Right to NondiscriminationNondiscrimination and Political StruggleDiscrimination against Sexual MinoritiesNature, (Im)morality, and Public MoralsStrategies for InclusionPaths of Incremental ChangeReferencesIndex

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Book SynopsisJanek Wasserman traces intellectual, social, and political developments in the Austrian First Republic while highlighting intellectuals' participation in the growing worldwide conflict between socialism, conservatism, and fascism.Trade ReviewJanek Wasserman introduces us to Black Vienna, a parallel city where disappointed monarchists, frustrated Catholic radicals, and racist German nationalists worked in consort to destroy the First Republic.... Wasserman challenges the conventionalLager model of interwar Austrian politics in which there were three distinct camps: Social Democrats, Christian radicals and German nationalists. Instead he finds a 'two-part division of interwar Austrian life' in which the lines between Catholic conservatives and German nationalists were blurred. He is not the first to propose this revision... but Wasserman adds rich detail on how the camps' personalities, publications and organizations converged. -- Maureen Healy * Austrian Studies Newsmagazine *The book has been extremely well researched and for those with an interest in the detailed background to Austria's political history between the wars, it provides a complex and thorough exposé of the radical right in Vienna between the wars, this being interwoven with an account of the left-wing intellectuals who were less active in promoting the ideals of Social Democracy. -- John Warren * Austrian Studies *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Reconsidering "Red Vienna"1. The Emergence of Black Vienna2. The Austro-Marxist Struggle for "Intellectual Workers"3. The Spannkreis and the Battle for Hegemony in Central Europe4. The Verein Ernst Mach and the Politicization of Viennese Progressive Thought5. Österreichische Aktion and the New Conservatism6. The Rise and Fall of Politically Engaged Scholarship in Red Vienna, 1927–19347. The Triumph of Radical Conservatism in the Austrofascist State, 1933–1938ConclusionBibliography Index

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