Social and political philosophy Books

Book SynopsisThis second volume of a new three-part series of Antonio Negri's work is focussed on the consequences of the rapid process of deindustrialisation that has occurred across the West in recent years.In this volume Negri investigates exactly what happens when the class subjects of industrial capitalism are demobilised and the factories close. Evidently capital continues to make profit, but how and where? According to Negri, the creation of value extends beyond the factory walls to embrace the whole of society; the 'mass worker' of industrialism gives way to the 'socialised worker' (operaio sociale) and the terrain of exploitation now becomes the whole of human life. In postmodernity, the metropolis becomes the privileged arena of value extraction. We must therefore understand the global city, with its stratifications, its enclosures and its resistances. Old categories of the private and the public are inadequate to describe the new matrix of production, which is characterised rather by the 'common', the productive space of cognitive and immaterial labour. Today's metropolis can be defined as a space of antagonisms between forms of life produced, on the one hand, by finance capital (the capital that operates around rents), and on the other by the 'cognitive proletariat'. The central question is then how 'the common' of the latter can be mobilised for the destruction of capitalism.In an analysis that runs from the Italian workerism (operaismo) of the 1970s to the present day, From the Factory to the Metropolis offers readers valuable insight into the far-reaching impact of deindustrialisation, presenting both the challenges and opportunities. It will appeal to the many interested in the continuing development of Negri's project and to anyone interested in radical politics today.Table of ContentsPreface Part I. Exodus from the factory 1. The reappropriation of public space 2. Midway terrains 3. The multitude and the metropolis: Notes in the form of hypotheses for an inquiry into the precariat in the global cities 4. Exiting from industrial capitalism 5. From the factory to the metropolis 6. Metropolis and multitude: Inquiry notes on precarity in global cities Part II. Inventing common 7. Banlieue and city: A philosophical overview Co-written with the late Jean-Marie Vincent 8. Democracy versus rent 9. Presentation of Rem Koolhaas’s Junkspace 10. The capital-labour relation in cognitive capitalism Co-written with Carlo Vercellone 11. Inventing the commons of humanity Co-written with Judith Revel 12. The Commune of social cooperation: Interview with Federico Tomasello on questions regarding the metropolis 13. The common lung of the metropolis: Interview with Federico Tomasello 14. The habitat of general intellect: A dialogue between Antonio Negri and Federico Tomasello on living in the contemporary metropolis Part III. First fruits of the new metropolis 15. Reflections on the Manifesto for an Accelerationist Politics 16. Notes on the abstract strike 17. From the factory to the metropolis ... and back again Origin of the Texts

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Book SynopsisWhat unites Google and Facebook, Apple and Microsoft, Siemens and GE, Uber and Airbnb? Across a wide range of sectors, these firms are transforming themselves into platforms: businesses that provide the hardware and software foundation for others to operate on. This transformation signals a major shift in how capitalist firms operate and how they interact with the rest of the economy: the emergence of �platform capitalism�. This book critically examines these new business forms, tracing their genesis from the long downturn of the 1970s to the boom and bust of the 1990s and the aftershocks of the 2008 crisis. It shows how the fundamental foundations of the economy are rapidly being carved up among a small number of monopolistic platforms, and how the platform introduces new tendencies within capitalism that pose significant challenges to any vision of a post-capitalist future. This book will be essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how the most powerful tech companies of our time are transforming the global economy."Trade Review‘Platform Capitalism is a high definition snapshot of the current political economic situation than manages to get a lot of detail into a tight frame. It offers a convincing image of the current stage of capitalist development as a series of variations on the theme of the platform as a means of consolidating or seizing a kind of monopoly leverage over not only distribution but also production. Srnicek gives good reasons for thinking the platform moment in capital accumulation might be less all-conquering than it looks.’McKenzie Wark, author of Telethesia: Communication, Culture and Class"Probe the slithering, creeping collusion between public and private, work and exhaustion, capitalism and death. As cars transform into terrorist devices and public housing explodes into flame through neglectful policies, planning and practices, we require books to understand the loss of agency, the loss of choice and the permanent revolution of fear, confusion and ignorance."Times Higher Education Supplement"…Srnicek builds an illuminating 120-page dissertation on where the platform came from, and where it might take us."Literary Review of Canada"It’s one of those books that so neatly gets to the heart of how modern society in the 21st century functions."PajibaTable of ContentsAcknowledgements vi Introduction 1 1 The Long Downturn 9 2 Platform Capitalism 36 3 Great Platform Wars 93 Notes 130 References 141

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Book SynopsisWhat do the invention of anaesthetics in the middle of the nineteenth century, the Nazis' use of cocaine, and the development of Prozac have in common? The answer is that they're all products of the same logic that defines our contemporary era: 'the age of anaesthesia'. Laurent de Sutter shows how large aspects of our lives are now characterised by the management of our emotions through drugs, ranging from the everyday use of sleeping pills to hard narcotics. Chemistry has become so much a part of us that we can’t even see how much it has changed us. In this era, being a subject doesn't simply mean being subjected to powers that decide our lives: it means that our very emotions have been outsourced to chemical stimulation. Yet we don't understand why the drugs that we take are unable to free us from fatigue and depression, and from the absence of desire that now characterizes our psychopolitical condition. We have forgotten what it means to be excited because our only excitement has become drug-induced. We have to abandon the narcotic stimulation that we’ve come to rely on and find a way back to the collective excitement that is narcocapitalism’s greatest fear.Trade Review"This fascinating book can be read in many ways: as a short history of modern psycho-pharmacology, as a theory of contemporary politics as anaesthesia of the social body, as a philosophical breakthrough on the ontological dimension of depression. It should be on the must-read list of every philosopher, psychoanalyst or social activist interested in experiencing the excitement of a true intellectual adventure." Franco Berardi, author of The Uprising and HeroesTable of ContentsThanks Prologue: Goin' Down Chapter 1 - Welcome to Prozacland Chapter 2 - Narcocapitalism Unlimited Chapter 3 - Day Without End Chapter 4 - Swallowing the Pill Chapter 5 - The Politics of Overexcitement Epilogue: Getting' Up Endnotes

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Book SynopsisPierre Bourdieu is arguably the most influential sociologist of the twentieth century, especially since the once common criticisms of his determinism and reproductionism have receded. Now, however, his intellectual enterprise faces a new set of challenges unearthed by decades of sympathetic research: how to conceive the relationship between society and place, particularly in an increasingly global world; how to recognize the individual as a product of multiple forces and pressures; how to make sense of family relations and gender domination; and, ultimately, how to grasp how we each come to be the unique beings we are. This book tackles these challenges head on, starting from the philosophical core of Bourdieu's sociology and taking in hints and suggestions across his corpus, to propose a range of novel concepts and arguments. In the process it outlines a new way of looking at the world to complement Bourdieu's own – one in which the focus is on the multiple social structures shaping individuals' everyday lives, not the multiple individuals comprising a single social structure.Trade Review"This outstanding book is bound to inspire the growing numbers of students and academics interested in Pierre Bourdieu’s general orientation and in building their own work on it. It makes an important contribution, particularly to Bourdieusian studies in family, gender and childhood." Leena Alanen, University of Jyväskylä, Finland "Atkinson’s book pushes the field of Bourdieu studies into new and exciting territory. Drawing on the author’s expertise in phenomenology, it shows how Bourdieu’s theory can illuminate the study of everyday life, the family and gender. This will be an essential resource for Bourdieu scholars for years to come." Jeffrey J. Sallaz, University of Arizona"Rather than take 'field' as the starting point, as many interpreters of Bourdieu's work have done, Atkinson argues that the individual and their movement across time and space (their lifeworld) which creates and is constrained by 'circuits of symbolic power' is a better approach. […] Atkinson offers a corrective by placing the accent on the individual without forgetting the structures of power. […] This book will be of particular interest to scholars in the sociology of education, psychological sociology, the family, and gender studies."Deborah Reed-Danahay, AnthroposTable of Contents Acknowledgement 1. Introduction 2. The Lifeworld 3. The Field of Family Relations 4. Social Becoming 5. Gender Epilogue: Sketch of a Research Programme Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisAmorous jealousy is not a monster, as Shakespeare's venomous Iago claims. It is neither prickly and bitter fancy nor a cruel and mean passion, nor yet a symptom of feeble self-esteem. All those who have experienced its wounds are well aware that it is not callous, nasty, delusional and ridiculous. It is just painful. Yet for centuries moralists have poured scorn and contempt on a feeling that, in their view, we should fight in every possible way. It is allegedly a disease to be treated, a moral vice to be eradicated, an ugly, pre-modern, illiberal, proprietary emotion to be overcome. Above all, no one should ever admit to being jealous. So should we silence this embarrassing sentiment? Or should we, like the heroines of Greek tragedy, see it as a fundamental human demand for reciprocity in love? By examining its cultural history from the ancient Greeks to La Rochefoucauld, Hobbes, Kant, Stendhal, Freud, Beauvoir, Sartre and Lacan, this book demonstrates how jealousy, far from being a 'green-eyed' fiend, reveals the intense and apprehensive nature of all erotic love, which is the desire to be desired. We should never be ashamed to love.Trade Review"Forget self-help books. Sissa rescues jealousy from the moralists, the philosophers, and an industry devoted to amplifying shame in the guise of therapy with her passionate and altogether compelling defense of erotic anger as the lifeblood of amorous relationships. Giving us much more than a history of jealousy, Sissa enlarges the lover's discourse with her capacious intelligence."Brooke Holmes, Princeton University"an eloquent cri de coeur by a woman who…has shaken off the long Western tradition that repressed women’s jealousy and shamed the jealous."Times Literary SupplementTable of Contents Introduction. I am beside myself with anger É Chapter 1. Being Medea Chapter 2. A forbidden passion Chapter 3. Sexual objects and open couples Chapter 4. The despair of not being loved Chapter 5. Art of love, art of jealousy Conclusion. Confessing the unconfessable Notes Index

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Book SynopsisAmorous jealousy is not a monster, as Shakespeare's venomous Iago claims. It is neither prickly and bitter fancy nor a cruel and mean passion, nor yet a symptom of feeble self-esteem. All those who have experienced its wounds are well aware that it is not callous, nasty, delusional and ridiculous. It is just painful. Yet for centuries moralists have poured scorn and contempt on a feeling that, in their view, we should fight in every possible way. It is allegedly a disease to be treated, a moral vice to be eradicated, an ugly, pre-modern, illiberal, proprietary emotion to be overcome. Above all, no one should ever admit to being jealous. So should we silence this embarrassing sentiment? Or should we, like the heroines of Greek tragedy, see it as a fundamental human demand for reciprocity in love? By examining its cultural history from the ancient Greeks to La Rochefoucauld, Hobbes, Kant, Stendhal, Freud, Beauvoir, Sartre and Lacan, this book demonstrates how jealousy, far from being a 'green-eyed' fiend, reveals the intense and apprehensive nature of all erotic love, which is the desire to be desired. We should never be ashamed to love.Trade Review"Forget self-help books. Sissa rescues jealousy from the moralists, the philosophers, and an industry devoted to amplifying shame in the guise of therapy with her passionate and altogether compelling defense of erotic anger as the lifeblood of amorous relationships. Giving us much more than a history of jealousy, Sissa enlarges the lover’s discourse with her capacious intelligence."Brooke Holmes, Princeton University"an eloquent cri de coeur by a woman who…has shaken off the long Western tradition that repressed women’s jealousy and shamed the jealous."Times Literary SupplementTable of Contents Introduction. I am beside myself with anger É Chapter 1. Being Medea Chapter 2. A forbidden passion Chapter 3. Sexual objects and open couples Chapter 4. The despair of not being loved Chapter 5. Art of love, art of jealousy Conclusion. Confessing the unconfessable Notes Index

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Book SynopsisPower is a pervasive phenomenon yet there is little consensus on what it is and how it should be understood. In this book the cultural theorist Byung-Chul Han develops a fresh and original perspective on the nature of power, shedding new light on this key feature of social and political life. Power is commonly defined as a causal relation: an individual’s power is the cause that produces a change of behaviour in someone else against the latter’s will. Han rejects this view, arguing that power is better understood as a mediation between ego and alter which creates a complex array of reciprocal interdependencies. Power can also be exercised not only against the other but also within and through the other, and this involves a much higher degree of mediation. This perspective enables us to see that power and freedom are not opposed to one another but are manifestations of the same power, differing only in the degree of mediation. This highly original account of power will be of great interest to students and scholars of philosophy and of social, political and cultural theory, as well as to anyone seeking to understand the many ways in which power shapes our lives today.Trade Review"On an itinerary driven by unusual intellectual independence and perfect argumentative transparency, Byung-Chul Han may have reached the level of true philosophical mastership. Based on a circumspect discussion of the positions marked by some classical thinkers of modernity, What is Power? develops a new vision of the asymmetries produced by human interaction and thus lives up to the promise to 'deprive power of that power it has on account of the fact that we do not fully understand what it actually is.'"—Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, Stanford University "The new star of German philosophy."—El País "It's no exaggeration to say that Han is one of the most relevant philosophers of our age, able to make diagnoses when other philosophers, particularly knee-jerk Foucauldian social critics in America, have trouble even seeing an illness. What is Power? is an important document of a philosopher still developing, still growing, though it's nevertheless interesting in its own right. Han's flops are better than most other philosophers' greatest hits."—The American ConservativeTable of ContentsPreface vii 1. The Logic of Power 1 2. The Semantics of Power 22 3. The Metaphysics of Power 41 4. The Politics of Power 61 5. The Ethics of Power 80 Notes 98 Bibliography 123

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Book SynopsisJean-Jacques Rousseau is one of the most controversial philosophers of the eighteenth century, and his groundbreaking work still provokes heated debate in contemporary political theory. In this book, Céline Spector, one of the world’s foremost experts on Rousseau’s thought, provides an accessible introduction to his moral, social and political theory. She explores the themes and central concepts of his thought, ranging from the state of nature, the social contract and the general will to natural and political freedom, religion and education. She combines a skilful exposition of Rousseau as a ‘man of paradoxes’ with a discussion of his often-overlooked ideas on knowledge, political economy and international relations. The book traces both the overall unity and the significant changes in Rousseau’s philosophy, accounting for its complexity and for the importance of its legacy. It will be essential reading for scholars, students and general readers interested in the Enlightenment and more broadly in the history of modern political thought and philosophy.Trade Review‘Céline Spector provides a comprehensive treatment of Rousseau’s political thought, dealing with both major and less-known writings. She has mastered both anglophone and francophone scholarship and is particularly helpful in showing Rousseau’s place in debates within contemporary political theory.’Christopher Kelly, Boston College ‘Céline Spector is one of the very brightest stars in the firmament of Rousseau scholarship in France today, and it is excellent now to have her new book on his “modern critique of modernity” for English-speaking readers.’Chris Brooke, University of CambridgeTable of Contents Contents Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction Chapter 1 A modern critique of modernity Chapter 2 Popular sovereignty and the general will Chapter 3 Political legitimacy and applied politics Chapter 4 Morality and education Chapter 5 Metaphysics and religion Chapter 6 Economic philosophy Chapter 7 War and peace Chapter 8 After Rousseau Conclusion Notes Bibliography Further Reading Index

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Book SynopsisJean-Jacques Rousseau is one of the most controversial philosophers of the eighteenth century, and his groundbreaking work still provokes heated debate in contemporary political theory. In this book, Céline Spector, one of the world’s foremost experts on Rousseau’s thought, provides an accessible introduction to his moral, social and political theory. She explores the themes and central concepts of his thought, ranging from the state of nature, the social contract and the general will to natural and political freedom, religion and education. She combines a skilful exposition of Rousseau as a ‘man of paradoxes’ with a discussion of his often-overlooked ideas on knowledge, political economy and international relations. The book traces both the overall unity and the significant changes in Rousseau’s philosophy, accounting for its complexity and for the importance of its legacy. It will be essential reading for scholars, students and general readers interested in the Enlightenment and more broadly in the history of modern political thought and philosophy.Trade Review‘Céline Spector provides a comprehensive treatment of Rousseau’s political thought, dealing with both major and less-known writings. She has mastered both anglophone and francophone scholarship and is particularly helpful in showing Rousseau’s place in debates within contemporary political theory.’Christopher Kelly, Boston College ‘Céline Spector is one of the very brightest stars in the firmament of Rousseau scholarship in France today, and it is excellent now to have her new book on his “modern critique of modernity” for English-speaking readers.’Chris Brooke, University of CambridgeTable of Contents Contents Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction Chapter 1 A modern critique of modernity Chapter 2 Popular sovereignty and the general will Chapter 3 Political legitimacy and applied politics Chapter 4 Morality and education Chapter 5 Metaphysics and religion Chapter 6 Economic philosophy Chapter 7 War and peace Chapter 8 After Rousseau Conclusion Notes Bibliography Further Reading Index

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Book SynopsisIn a context marked by the virulent return of patriarchal and white supremacist attitudes, a new generation of feminist activists are continuing the struggle: these are very feminist times. But how do these and other movements relate to the contemporary posthuman condition? In this important new book, Rosi Braidotti examines the implications of the posthuman turn for feminist theory and practice. She defines the posthuman turn as a convergence between posthumanism on the one hand and post-anthropocentrism on the other, and she examines their complex relationship and joint impact. Braidotti claims that mainstream posthuman scholarship has neglected feminist theory, while in fact feminism is one of the precursors of the posthuman turn, through diverse social movements and political traditions. Posthuman Feminism is an analytic and creative response to contemporary conditions and a call to action. It highlights the constraints but also the potentialities available to feminist political subjects as they confront the ever-growing injustices of sexism, racism, ecocide and neoliberal capitalism. This bold new text by a leading feminist philosopher will be of great interest to students and scholars throughout the humanities and social sciences.Trade Review“This profound and energising book is uncannily insightful: read it as a talisman against the present and as a map out of its baleful conditions.”Matthew Fuller, Goldsmiths, University of London“Posthumanism Feminism is astonishingly wide-ranging and characteristically impressive in its contemporary relevance. Attending closely to submerged knowledge traditions including Indigenous and Black perspectives, Braidotti enriches our understanding of both posthumanism and feminism by showing how they are mutually generative and intimately imbricated. Everyone who engages with ideas emerging in these areas will need to know what this book has to say.”Simone Bignall, University of Technology SydneyTable of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction: Feminism by Any Other Name Part I Posthuman Feminism as Critique Chapter 1: Feminism is Not (Only) a Humanism Chapter 2: The Critical Edge of Posthuman Feminism Chapter 3: Decentring Anthropos: Ecofeminism Revisited Part II Posthuman Feminism as Creation Chapter 4: New Materialism and Carnal Empiricism Chapter 5: Technobodies: Gene- and Gender-editing Chapter 6: Sexuality Beyond Gender: a Thousand Little Sexes Chapter 7: Wanting Out! Epilogue: “Get a life!” Bibliography

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Book SynopsisFrom flag-waving to the singing of national anthems, the practices and symbols ofpatriotism are inescapable, and modern politics is increasingly full of appeals topatriotic fervour. But if no-one chooses where they were born, and our ethicalobligations transcend national boundaries, then does patriotism make any sense? Doesit encourage an uncritical attachment to the status quo, or is it a crucial way ofunderstanding and applying our freedoms and moral duties? In this engaging book, Charles Jones and Richard Vernon guide us through thesequestions with razor-sharp clarity. They examine the different ways patriotism has beendefended and explained, from a republican attachment to free and democraticinstitutions to an ethical and historical fabric that makes our entire moral life andidentity possible. They outline its relationship to a range of other key concepts, such asnationalism and cosmopolitanism, and skilfully analyse the issues surroundingpartiality to country and whether we should prioritise the welfare of our compatriotsover outsiders. This concise and lucid volume will be essential for both students and general readerswishing to understand the contemporary resonance and historical development ofpatriotism, and how it intersects with debates about global justice, cosmopolitanismand nationalism.Trade Review"Jones and Vernon’s Patriotism is simply the best available introduction to the tangled questions about citizenship and belonging that roil contemporary political theory. They write with unfailing grace and clarity, their command of the relevant scholarship is peerless, and they are scrupulously fair to rival viewpoints. They deserve a very wide readership."—Eamonn Callan, Stanford University "In this timely work Charles Jones and Richard Vernon comprehensively examine the idea of patriotism, the different forms it might take, and how it might relate to other important concepts including nationalism and cosmopolitanism. This is a rich and accessible introduction to an important idea playing a key role in current political discourse."—Gillian Brock, University of Auckland "This book is a subtle and elegant discussion of the nature of patriotism, which manages to survey a vast literature without pedantry, while lucidly and persuasively defending a particular conception of love of country."—K. Anthony Appiah, New York UniversityTable of Contents Contents Introduction Chapter 1: Community, Loyalty, and Partiality Chapter 2: Nationalism, Patriotism, and Cosmopolitanism Chapter 3: The Republican Alternative Chapter 4: Special Concern for Our Compatriots Conclusion: A Subsidiarity Defence References

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Book SynopsisFrom flag-waving to the singing of national anthems, the practices and symbols ofpatriotism are inescapable, and modern politics is increasingly full of appeals topatriotic fervour. But if no-one chooses where they were born, and our ethicalobligations transcend national boundaries, then does patriotism make any sense? Doesit encourage an uncritical attachment to the status quo, or is it a crucial way ofunderstanding and applying our freedoms and moral duties? In this engaging book, Charles Jones and Richard Vernon guide us through thesequestions with razor-sharp clarity. They examine the different ways patriotism has beendefended and explained, from a republican attachment to free and democraticinstitutions to an ethical and historical fabric that makes our entire moral life andidentity possible. They outline its relationship to a range of other key concepts, such asnationalism and cosmopolitanism, and skilfully analyse the issues surroundingpartiality to country and whether we should prioritise the welfare of our compatriotsover outsiders. This concise and lucid volume will be essential for both students and general readerswishing to understand the contemporary resonance and historical development ofpatriotism, and how it intersects with debates about global justice, cosmopolitanismand nationalism.Trade Review"Jones and Vernon’s Patriotism is simply the best available introduction to the tangled questions about citizenship and belonging that roil contemporary political theory. They write with unfailing grace and clarity, their command of the relevant scholarship is peerless, and they are scrupulously fair to rival viewpoints. They deserve a very wide readership."—Eamonn Callan, Stanford University "In this timely work Charles Jones and Richard Vernon comprehensively examine the idea of patriotism, the different forms it might take, and how it might relate to other important concepts including nationalism and cosmopolitanism. This is a rich and accessible introduction to an important idea playing a key role in current political discourse."—Gillian Brock, University of Auckland "This book is a subtle and elegant discussion of the nature of patriotism, which manages to survey a vast literature without pedantry, while lucidly and persuasively defending a particular conception of love of country."—K. Anthony Appiah, New York UniversityTable of Contents Contents Introduction Chapter 1: Community, Loyalty, and Partiality Chapter 2: Nationalism, Patriotism, and Cosmopolitanism Chapter 3: The Republican Alternative Chapter 4: Special Concern for Our Compatriots Conclusion: A Subsidiarity Defence References

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Book SynopsisThe core of what we refer to as ‘the project of modernity’ is the idea that human beings have the power to bring the world under their control, and hence it is based on a ‘kinetic utopia’: the movement of the world as a whole reflects the implementation of our plans for it. But as soon as the kinetic utopia of modernity is exposed, its seemingly stable foundation cracks open and new problems appear: things don’t happen according to plan because as we actualize our plans, we set in motion other things that we didn’t want as unintended side-effects. We watch with mounting unease as the self-perpetuating side-effects of modern progress overshadow our plans, as a foreign movement breaks off from the very core of the modern project supposedly guided by reason and slips away from us, spinning out of control. What looked like a steady march towards freedom turns out to be a slide into an uncontrollable and catastrophic syndrome of perpetual mobilization. And precisely because so much comes about through our actions, these developments turn out to have explosive consequences for our self-understanding, as we begin to realize that, so far from bringing the world under our control, we are instead the agents of our own destruction.In this brilliant and insightful book Sloterdijk lays out the elements of a new critical theory of modernity understood as a critique of political kinetics, shifting the focus of critical theory from production to mobilization and shedding new light on a world facing the growing risk of humanly induced catastrophe.Table of ContentsTable of Contents Premises I. The Modern Age as Mobilization 1. The Mobilization of the Planet from the Spirit of Self-Intensification 2. Sketches towards a General Outline of a Critique of Political Kinetics 3. The Prospect of an Asian Renaissance: Towards a Theory of the Ancient II. The Other Change On the Philosophical Situation of Alternative Movements 1. Panicked Culture—Or: How much catastrophe does a person need? 2. The First Alternative: Metaphysics 3. The Second Alternative: Poeisis III. Eurotaoism? 1. Nothingness and Historical Consciousness – A Note on the World History of Life Fatigue 2. The Miscarried Animal and the Self-Birth of the Subject 3. Eurotaoism IV. The Fundamental and the Urgent – or: The Tao of Politics Also a contribution to the answer as to why a credible policy currently does not exist 1. Dimensions of the Gap in Credibility 2. The Voting Voice and the Body— or: How politics takes part in the crisis of a metaphysics of embodiment 3. From an Ethics of Principle to an Ethos of the Urgent V. Paris Aphorisms on Rationality 1. All that is right 2. Diplomats as Thinkers in Meager Times 3. Low Theory 4. La chose la mieux partagée du monde 5. Geometry as Finesse 6. Unconcealment und Tolerability 7. Of the foolishness to not be an animal 8. Invent yourselves VI. After Modernity 1. The Age of the Epilogue 2. The Interim – or: The Birth of History from the Spirit of Postponement 3. Truth und Symbiosis: On the Geological Abolition of World History 4. For an Ontology of Still-Being

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Book SynopsisThe core of what we refer to as ‘the project of modernity’ is the idea that human beings have the power to bring the world under their control, and hence it is based on a ‘kinetic utopia’: the movement of the world as a whole reflects the implementation of our plans for it. But as soon as the kinetic utopia of modernity is exposed, its seemingly stable foundation cracks open and new problems appear: things don’t happen according to plan because as we actualize our plans, we set in motion other things that we didn’t want as unintended side-effects. We watch with mounting unease as the self-perpetuating side-effects of modern progress overshadow our plans, as a foreign movement breaks off from the very core of the modern project supposedly guided by reason and slips away from us, spinning out of control. What looked like a steady march towards freedom turns out to be a slide into an uncontrollable and catastrophic syndrome of perpetual mobilization. And precisely because so much comes about through our actions, these developments turn out to have explosive consequences for our self-understanding, as we begin to realize that, so far from bringing the world under our control, we are instead the agents of our own destruction.In this brilliant and insightful book Sloterdijk lays out the elements of a new critical theory of modernity understood as a critique of political kinetics, shifting the focus of critical theory from production to mobilization and shedding new light on a world facing the growing risk of humanly induced catastrophe.Table of ContentsTable of ContentsPremises I. The Modern Age as Mobilization 1. The Mobilization of the Planet from the Spirit of Self-Intensification 2. Sketches towards a General Outline of a Critique of Political Kinetics 3. The Prospect of an Asian Renaissance: Towards a Theory of the Ancient II. The Other ChangeOn the Philosophical Situation of Alternative Movements 1. Panicked Culture—Or: How much catastrophe does a person need? 2. The First Alternative: Metaphysics 3. The Second Alternative: Poeisis III. Eurotaoism? 1. Nothingness and Historical Consciousness – A Note on the World History of Life Fatigue 2. The Miscarried Animal and the Self-Birth of the Subject 3. Eurotaoism IV. The Fundamental and the Urgent – or: The Tao of PoliticsAlso a contribution to the answer as to why a credible policy currently does not exist1. Dimensions of the Gap in Credibility 2. The Voting Voice and the Body— or: How politics takes part in the crisis of a metaphysics of embodiment 3. From an Ethics of Principle to an Ethos of the Urgent V. Paris Aphorisms on Rationality 1. All that is right 2. Diplomats as Thinkers in Meager Times 3. Low Theory 4. La chose la mieux partagée du monde 5. Geometry as Finesse 6. Unconcealment und Tolerability 7. Of the foolishness to not be an animal 8. Invent yourselves VI. After Modernity 1. The Age of the Epilogue 2. The Interim – or: The Birth of History from the Spirit of Postponement3. Truth und Symbiosis: On the Geological Abolition of World History 4. For an Ontology of Still-Being

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Book SynopsisThe essence of libertarianism is the view that coercive political institutions, such as the state, are justified only insofar as they function to protect each person’s liberty to pursue their own goals and well-being in their own way. Libertarians accordingly argue that any attempt to enforce top-down concepts of social justice or economic equality are fundamentally misconceived. In this book, leading expert Eric Mack provides a rigorous and clear account of the philosophical principles of libertarianism. He offers accounts of three distinctive schools of libertarian thought, which he labels the natural rights approach, the cooperation to mutual advantage approach, and the indirect consequentialist approach. After examining the historical roots of these approaches in the thought of figures such as John Locke and David Hume, he provides illuminating accounts of the foundational arguments and the theories of economic justice offered by Robert Nozick and F.A. Hayek. He then examines a range of other debates, such as those surrounding the nature of the minimal state and those between critics and defenders of libertarianism. This book will be essential reading for anyone interested in political philosophy, political ideologies and the nature of liberty and state authority, from students and scholars to general readers.Trade Review"This book is, unquestionably, the best available account of the literature on the philosophical foundations of modern libertarianism. Mack, himself a major contributor to that literature, carefully tracks its historical origins and offers an impressively acute analysis of the works of libertarianism’s leading contemporary exponents."—Hillel Steiner, University of Manchester "Eric Mack is at once one of the gentlest but also one of the most probing critics our profession has ever seen. His reconstructions are works of art, even when he ultimately disagrees. Mack has been as good as it gets for a very long time, and this is his greatest work." —David Schmidtz, University of ArizonaTable of ContentsChapter 1. Introduction Chapter 2. Philosophical Antecedents Chapter 3. Libertarian Foundations Chapter 4. Economic Justice and Property Rights Chapter 5. Objections: Internal and External Bibliography

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Book SynopsisThe essence of libertarianism is the view that coercive political institutions, such as the state, are justified only insofar as they function to protect each person’s liberty to pursue their own goals and well-being in their own way. Libertarians accordingly argue that any attempt to enforce top-down concepts of social justice or economic equality are fundamentally misconceived. In this book, leading expert Eric Mack provides a rigorous and clear account of the philosophical principles of libertarianism. He offers accounts of three distinctive schools of libertarian thought, which he labels the natural rights approach, the cooperation to mutual advantage approach, and the indirect consequentialist approach. After examining the historical roots of these approaches in the thought of figures such as John Locke and David Hume, he provides illuminating accounts of the foundational arguments and the theories of economic justice offered by Robert Nozick and F.A. Hayek. He then examines a range of other debates, such as those surrounding the nature of the minimal state and those between critics and defenders of libertarianism. This book will be essential reading for anyone interested in political philosophy, political ideologies and the nature of liberty and state authority, from students and scholars to general readers.Trade Review"This book is, unquestionably, the best available account of the literature on the philosophical foundations of modern libertarianism. Mack, himself a major contributor to that literature, carefully tracks its historical origins and offers an impressively acute analysis of the works of libertarianism’s leading contemporary exponents."—Hillel Steiner, University of Manchester "Eric Mack is at once one of the gentlest but also one of the most probing critics our profession has ever seen. His reconstructions are works of art, even when he ultimately disagrees. Mack has been as good as it gets for a very long time, and this is his greatest work." —David Schmidtz, University of Arizona

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Book SynopsisAmid a devastating economic crisis, two tragic events coming from the outside – the wave of immigration and Islamic terrorism – have radically changed the profile and significance of the space we call Europe. Given a paradigm leap of this sort, philosophical reflection is in a position to exert its creative power more than other types of knowledge. But this can only happen if it is able to go beyond its own lexical boundaries, by turning its gaze outside itself. Here the leading Italian philosopher Roberto Esposito looks at how various strands of German, French, and Italian thought have achieved this outward turn and successfully captured international attention by breaking with the language of early nineteenth-century crisis philosophies. When analyzed from this novel perspective, the great texts of Adorno, Derrida, Foucault, and Deleuze, as well as works by the latest Italian thinkers, are cast in a new light. From the relationship and tension between them, reconstructed here with extraordinary theoretical sensitivity, a form of thought can arise that is equal to the challenges faced by Europe today. This erudite and wide-ranging analysis of European thought in the light of the crises facing the continent today will appeal to students and scholars of philosophy, critical theory, and beyond.Trade Review“Esposito’s A Philosophy for Europe is a clarion call for the coming into political existence of a European people based neither on a metaphysics of identity nor on one of difference, but rather on one that emerges out of a real political dialectic built on what he calls, with Machiavelli and Vico, civilian power. Across some of his most thoughtful and unsettling readings of German philosophy, French theory, and Italian thought, Esposito urges the reader to find a point of union among interests and values able to give birth to a new European political space. This is Esposito’s most provocative work yet.” Timothy Campbell, Cornell UniversityTable of Contents Introduction I. The Crisis Dispositif 1. The Metaphysics of Crisis 2. From the Night 3. Sea and Land Articulation I II. German Philosophy 1. From the Other Shore 2. The Resurgence of the Archaic 3. Outside in the Concept Articulation II III. French Theory 1. Difference and History 2. The Undecidable 3. The Thought of the Outside Articulation III IV. Italian Thought 1. Power and the Immediate 2. An Affirmative Thought 3. Beyond Political Theology Articulation IV V. A Philosophy for Europe 1. A Europe with No People 2. On the Borders of Europe 3. The Two Peoples of Europe Index Notes

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Book SynopsisAmid a devastating economic crisis, two tragic events coming from the outside – the wave of immigration and Islamic terrorism – have radically changed the profile and significance of the space we call Europe. Given a paradigm leap of this sort, philosophical reflection is in a position to exert its creative power more than other types of knowledge. But this can only happen if it is able to go beyond its own lexical boundaries, by turning its gaze outside itself. Here the leading Italian philosopher Roberto Esposito looks at how various strands of German, French, and Italian thought have achieved this outward turn and successfully captured international attention by breaking with the language of early nineteenth-century crisis philosophies. When analyzed from this novel perspective, the great texts of Adorno, Derrida, Foucault, and Deleuze, as well as works by the latest Italian thinkers, are cast in a new light. From the relationship and tension between them, reconstructed here with extraordinary theoretical sensitivity, a form of thought can arise that is equal to the challenges faced by Europe today. This erudite and wide-ranging analysis of European thought in the light of the crises facing the continent today will appeal to students and scholars of philosophy, critical theory, and beyond.Trade Review“Esposito’s A Philosophy for Europe is a clarion call for the coming into political existence of a European people based neither on a metaphysics of identity nor on one of difference, but rather on one that emerges out of a real political dialectic built on what he calls, with Machiavelli and Vico, civilian power. Across some of his most thoughtful and unsettling readings of German philosophy, French theory, and Italian thought, Esposito urges the reader to find a point of union among interests and values able to give birth to a new European political space. This is Esposito’s most provocative work yet.” Timothy Campbell, Cornell UniversityTable of Contents Introduction I. The Crisis Dispositif 1. The Metaphysics of Crisis 2. From the Night 3. Sea and Land Articulation I II. German Philosophy 1. From the Other Shore 2. The Resurgence of the Archaic 3. Outside in the Concept Articulation II III. French Theory 1. Difference and History 2. The Undecidable 3. The Thought of the Outside Articulation III IV. Italian Thought 1. Power and the Immediate 2. An Affirmative Thought 3. Beyond Political Theology Articulation IV V. A Philosophy for Europe 1. A Europe with No People 2. On the Borders of Europe 3. The Two Peoples of Europe Index Notes

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Book SynopsisStates claim the right to choose who can come to their country. They put up barriers and expose migrants to deadly journeys. Those who survive are labelled ‘illegal’ and find themselves vulnerable and unrepresented. The international state system advantages the lucky few born in rich countries and locks others into poor and often repressive ones. In this book, Christopher Bertram skilfully weaves a lucid exposition of the debates in political philosophy with original insights to argue that migration controls must be justifiable to everyone, including would-be and actual immigrants. Until justice prevails, states have no credible right to exclude and no-one is obliged to obey their immigration rules. Bertram’s analysis powerfully cuts through the fog of political rhetoric that obscures this controversial topic. It will be essential reading for anyone interested in the politics and ethics of migration.Trade Review‘Bertram’s excellent book provides a lucid overview of contemporary philosophical debates about immigration. Its brevity, accessible style, real-world examples, and distinctive perspective will appeal to scholars and students alike. A “must read”.’Joseph H. Carens, University of Toronto‘This is a distinctive and immensely accessible contribution to the philosophical debate about immigration. Bertram demonstrates the moral and political costs of the current global migration regime and articulates an attractive ideal of justice in migration.’David Owen, University of Southampton "A bolder, more intellectually rigorous approach can be found in Christopher Bertram’s Do States Have the Right to Exclude Immigrants?, which challenges unilateral state discretion over immigration policy and advocates for a global migration regime."New Statesman"Christopher Bertram's Do States Have the Right to Exclude Immigrants? is a sharp and insightful short book . . . a reasoned and informed contribution to the heated and divisive debates on immigration policies . . ."Migration Studies Table of Contents Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1: Migration Today and in History Chapter 2: Justifying a Migration Regime from an Impartial Perspective Chapter 3: Obligations of Individuals and States in an Unjust World Concluding Thoughts References Notes

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Book SynopsisLiberals blame the global retreat of liberal democracy on globalisation and authoritarian leaders. Only liberalism, so they assume, can defend democratic rule against multinationals or populists at home and abroad. In this provocative book, Adrian Pabst contends that liberal democracy is illiberal and undemocratic – intolerant about the values of ordinary people while concentrating power and wealth in the hands of unaccountable elites. Under the influence of contemporary liberalism, democracy is sliding into oligarchy, demagogy and anarchy. Liberals, far from defending open markets and free speech, promote monopolies such as the new tech giants that undermine competition and democratic debate. Liberal individualism has eroded the social bonds and civic duties on which democracy depends for trust and cooperation. To banish liberal democracy’s demons, Pabst proposes radical ideas for economic democracy, a politics of persuasion and a better balance of personal freedom with social solidarity. This book’s defence of democratic politics against both liberals and populists will speak to all readers trying to understand our age of upheaval.Trade Review‘History has been up-ended. Western liberal democracy is in crisis. This book is a brilliant, concise diagnosis of this state of modern affairs. It is essential reading, whether you’re a political philosopher, practising politician or concerned citizen.’Jon Cruddas, Labour MP for Dagenham and Rainham ‘Instead of avoiding the implications of the revolt against elites of our time, this book proposes a highly provocative return to recessive elements of the liberal tradition that emphasised the necessity of community and solidarity. Only if it confronts its demons, Adrian Pabst says, can democracy survive its moment of crisis.’Samuel Moyn, Yale University ‘Hard-hitting, polemical at times, and makes a powerful case.’Andrew Gamble, University of Sheffield "A brief but thorough and highly readable diagnosis of our times. Pabst’s book is a pithy, nuanced, and provocative take on the travails of Western liberalism."Front Porch Republic “Pabst offers an eminent analysis of the numerous flaws of liberal democracy […] This is a solid diagnosis of our times, and it is full of alarm bells.” Hans Henrik Fafner, Ny Tid – The Oslo Review of Books and Docs

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Book SynopsisLiberals blame the global retreat of liberal democracy on globalisation and authoritarian leaders. Only liberalism, so they assume, can defend democratic rule against multinationals or populists at home and abroad. In this provocative book, Adrian Pabst contends that liberal democracy is illiberal and undemocratic – intolerant about the values of ordinary people while concentrating power and wealth in the hands of unaccountable elites. Under the influence of contemporary liberalism, democracy is sliding into oligarchy, demagogy and anarchy. Liberals, far from defending open markets and free speech, promote monopolies such as the new tech giants that undermine competition and democratic debate. Liberal individualism has eroded the social bonds and civic duties on which democracy depends for trust and cooperation. To banish liberal democracy’s demons, Pabst proposes radical ideas for economic democracy, a politics of persuasion and a better balance of personal freedom with social solidarity. This book’s defence of democratic politics against both liberals and populists will speak to all readers trying to understand our age of upheaval.Trade Review‘History has been up-ended. Western liberal democracy is in crisis. This book is a brilliant, concise diagnosis of this state of modern affairs. It is essential reading, whether you’re a political philosopher, practising politician or concerned citizen.’Jon Cruddas, Labour MP for Dagenham and Rainham ‘Instead of avoiding the implications of the revolt against elites of our time, this book proposes a highly provocative return to recessive elements of the liberal tradition that emphasised the necessity of community and solidarity. Only if it confronts its demons, Adrian Pabst says, can democracy survive its moment of crisis.’Samuel Moyn, Yale University ‘Hard-hitting, polemical at times, and makes a powerful case.’Andrew Gamble, University of Sheffield"A brief but thorough and highly readable diagnosis of our times. Pabst’s book is a pithy, nuanced, and provocative take on the travails of Western liberalism."Front Porch Republic “Pabst offers an eminent analysis of the numerous flaws of liberal democracy […] This is a solid diagnosis of our times, and it is full of alarm bells.” Hans Henrik Fafner, Ny Tid – The Oslo Review of Books and Docs

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Book SynopsisOur politics is intimately linked to the environmental conditions - and crises - of our time. The challenges of sustainability and the discovery of ecological limits to growth are transforming how we understand the core concepts at the heart of political theory. In this essential new textbook, leading political theorist Steve Vanderheiden examines how the concept of sustainability challenges – and is challenged – by eight key social and political ideas, ranging from freedom and equality to democracy and sovereignty. He shows that environmental change will disrupt some of our most cherished ideals, requiring new indicators of progress, new forms of community, and new conceptions of agency and responsibility. He draws on canonical texts, contemporary approaches to environmental political theory, and vivid examples to illustrate how changes in our conceptualization of our social aspirations can inhibit or enable a transition to a just and sustainable society. Vanderheiden masterfully balances crystal clear explanation of the essentials with cutting-edge analysis to produce a book that will be core reading for students of environmental and green political theory everywhere.Trade Review"Steve Vanderheiden’s Environmental Political Theory is a great piece of engaged political theorising on the most important challenge of this age of the Anthropocene: how do we think about and respond to the climate and ecological emergency? He offers an analytically detailed and careful reappraisal of 'progress' and progressive politics for navigating our increasingly turbulent world. A monumental achievement from one of the world's leading EPT scholars."—John Barry, Queen's University Belfast "The book is a triumph: a confident and engaged discussion by a leading environmental theorist at the top of his game. It is by far the best analysis available of the perils and promise of our most cherished political ideals in an age of environmental crises."—Catriona McKinnon, University of Exeter "... highly accessible, impeccably organised and insightful."Environmental Values

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Book SynopsisRecent years have seen a number of whistleblowers risk their liberty to expose illegal and corrupt behaviour. Some have heralded their bravery; others see them as traitors. Can there be a moral duty to emulate their example and blow the whistle? In this book, leading political philosophers Emanuela Ceva and Michele Bocchiola draw on well-known cases, such as those of Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning, to probe the difference between permissible and dutiful whistleblowing. They argue that, insofar as whistleblowing is understood as an individual act of dissent, it falls short of constituting a duty, although it can be praiseworthy. Whistleblowing should, they contend, be seen as an institutional duty, embedded within the organizational practices of public accountability. This concise book will be invaluable for students and scholars of applied political theory, and political and professional ethics.Trade Review‘Ceva and Bocchiola have produced a timely, engaging, and insightful analysis of whistleblowing as a duty of public accountability, not a matter of personal ethics. It is a major contribution to political ethics.’Candice Delmas, Northeastern University ‘Is Whistleblowing A Duty? is a deeply important contribution to the fields of political theory and professional ethics. It is certain to provoke much constructive debate and discussion amongst scholars and practitioners.’Rahul Sagar, New York UniversityTable of ContentsIntroduction Chapter 1: Defining Whistleblowing Chapter 2: The Practice of Whistleblowing as a Duty Chapter 3: Whistleblowing: Personal Trust, Secrecy, and Public Accountability Conclusion References Notes

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Book SynopsisRecent years have seen a number of whistleblowers risk their liberty to expose illegal and corrupt behaviour. Some have heralded their bravery; others see them as traitors. Can there be a moral duty to emulate their example and blow the whistle? In this book, leading political philosophers Emanuela Ceva and Michele Bocchiola draw on well-known cases, such as those of Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning, to probe the difference between permissible and dutiful whistleblowing. They argue that, insofar as whistleblowing is understood as an individual act of dissent, it falls short of constituting a duty, although it can be praiseworthy. Whistleblowing should, they contend, be seen as an institutional duty, embedded within the organizational practices of public accountability. This concise book will be invaluable for students and scholars of applied political theory, and political and professional ethics.Trade Review‘Ceva and Bocchiola have produced a timely, engaging, and insightful analysis of whistleblowing as a duty of public accountability, not a matter of personal ethics. It is a major contribution to political ethics.’Candice Delmas, Northeastern University ‘Is Whistleblowing A Duty? is a deeply important contribution to the fields of political theory and professional ethics. It is certain to provoke much constructive debate and discussion amongst scholars and practitioners.’Rahul Sagar, New York UniversityTable of ContentsIntroduction Chapter 1: Defining Whistleblowing Chapter 2: The Practice of Whistleblowing as a Duty Chapter 3: Whistleblowing: Personal Trust, Secrecy, and Public Accountability Conclusion References Notes

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Book SynopsisBorn Liquid is the last work by the great sociologist and social theorist Zygmunt Bauman, whose brilliant analyses of liquid modernity changed the way we think about our world today. At the time of his death, Bauman was working on this short book, a conversation with the Italian journalist Thomas Leoncini, exactly sixty years his junior. In these exchanges with Leoncini, Bauman considers, for the first time, the world of those born after the early 1980s, the individuals who were ‘born liquid’ and feel at home in a society of constant flux. As always, taking his cue from contemporary issues and debates, Bauman examines this world by discussing what are often regarded as its most ephemeral features. The transformation of the body – tattoos, cosmetic surgery, hipsters – aggression, bullying, the Internet, online dating, gender transitions and changing sexual preferences are all analysed with characteristic brilliance in this concise and topical book, which will be of particular interest to young people, natives of the liquid modern world, as well as to Bauman’s many readers of all generations.Trade Review"A welcoming introduction to Bauman’s sociological craft and a kind of goodbye to a man whose thoughtfulness has marked our discipline. In these conversations, he comes across as someone of immense humanity, at ease with thinking but open to the challenge posed by others."Sociological Research OnlineTable of Contents Contents 1. Skin-deep transformations Tattoos, plastic surgery, hipsters 2. Transformations of aggressivity Bullying 3. Transformations of sex and dating Declining taboos in the era of finding love online Postscript The last lesson

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Book SynopsisBorn Liquid is the last work by the great sociologist and social theorist Zygmunt Bauman, whose brilliant analyses of liquid modernity changed the way we think about our world today. At the time of his death, Bauman was working on this short book, a conversation with the Italian journalist Thomas Leoncini, exactly sixty years his junior. In these exchanges with Leoncini, Bauman considers, for the first time, the world of those born after the early 1980s, the individuals who were ‘born liquid’ and feel at home in a society of constant flux. As always, taking his cue from contemporary issues and debates, Bauman examines this world by discussing what are often regarded as its most ephemeral features. The transformation of the body – tattoos, cosmetic surgery, hipsters – aggression, bullying, the Internet, online dating, gender transitions and changing sexual preferences are all analysed with characteristic brilliance in this concise and topical book, which will be of particular interest to young people, natives of the liquid modern world, as well as to Bauman’s many readers of all generations.Trade Review"A welcoming introduction to Bauman’s sociological craft and a kind of goodbye to a man whose thoughtfulness has marked our discipline. In these conversations, he comes across as someone of immense humanity, at ease with thinking but open to the challenge posed by others."Sociological Research Online

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Book SynopsisSocialism has made a dramatic comeback in the 21st century. In the wake of financial crisis, mounting inequality and social decay, it seems more relevant than ever. Nobody who seeks to understand contemporary politics can ignore it. In this book, leading scholar Peter Lamb identifies the key ideas and principles of socialism and explores different (often conflicting) interpretations that have appeared in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, from the early nineteenth century until today. He explores the different ways that socialist thinkers have conceptualised community, equality and liberty and shows how, despite overlap with other traditions, socialists have combined these ideas in common and distinct ways that make the socialist tradition uniquely valuable. Lamb goes on to trace the recent re-emergence of these ideas, and explain what will be required for such a revival to be popular, powerful and sustained. This book will be invaluable to any student or scholar interested in political theory, socialism, communism or political ideologies, as well as to general readers striving to understand contemporary politics throughout the world.Trade Review‘Peter Lamb's Socialism is an excellent overview of how the socialist idea has evolved and been applied in the modern era. Clearly written and thematically organized, the book's global perspective provides general readers as well as specialists with food for thought about socialism's past and its prospects for the future.’William Smaldone, Williamette University ‘Well-researched and accessible, the great strength of this book is the judicious balance it strikes between demonstrating the diversity of the socialist tradition while also insisting on its fundamental coherence. Particularly impressive is the nuanced consideration of associational and democratic strands too often confined to the margins.’Madeleine Davis, Queen Mary, University of LondonTable of ContentsContents Acknowledgements 1. Introduction 2. Freedom, equality and community 3. The state and economy 4. Political and social change 5. Blueprints for a Socialist Society 6. Conclusion

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Book SynopsisSocialism has made a dramatic comeback in the 21st century. In the wake of financial crisis, mounting inequality and social decay, it seems more relevant than ever. Nobody who seeks to understand contemporary politics can ignore it. In this book, leading scholar Peter Lamb identifies the key ideas and principles of socialism and explores different (often conflicting) interpretations that have appeared in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, from the early nineteenth century until today. He explores the different ways that socialist thinkers have conceptualised community, equality and liberty and shows how, despite overlap with other traditions, socialists have combined these ideas in common and distinct ways that make the socialist tradition uniquely valuable. Lamb goes on to trace the recent re-emergence of these ideas, and explain what will be required for such a revival to be popular, powerful and sustained. This book will be invaluable to any student or scholar interested in political theory, socialism, communism or political ideologies, as well as to general readers striving to understand contemporary politics throughout the world.Trade Review‘Peter Lamb's Socialism is an excellent overview of how the socialist idea has evolved and been applied in the modern era. Clearly written and thematically organized, the book's global perspective provides general readers as well as specialists with food for thought about socialism's past and its prospects for the future.’William Smaldone, Williamette University ‘Well-researched and accessible, the great strength of this book is the judicious balance it strikes between demonstrating the diversity of the socialist tradition while also insisting on its fundamental coherence. Particularly impressive is the nuanced consideration of associational and democratic strands too often confined to the margins.’Madeleine Davis, Queen Mary, University of LondonTable of ContentsContents Acknowledgements 1. Introduction 2. Freedom, equality and community 3. The state and economy 4. Political and social change 5. Blueprints for a Socialist Society 6. Conclusion

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Book SynopsisLess than a century old, the concept of totalitarianism is one of the most controversial in political theory, with some proposing to abandon it altogether. In this accessible, wide-ranging introduction, David Roberts addresses the grounds for skepticism and shows that appropriately recast—as an aspiration and direction, rather than a system of domination—totalitarianism is essential for understanding the modern political universe. Surveying the career of the concept from the 1920s to today, Roberts shows how it might better be applied to the three ""classic"" regimes of Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, and the Stalinist Soviet Union. Extending totalitarianism’s reach into the twenty-first century, he then examines how Communist China, Vladimir Putin's Russia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS), and the threat of the technological “surveillance state” can be conceptualized in the totalitarian tradition. Roberts shows that although the term has come to have overwhelmingly negative connotations, some have enthusiastically pursued a totalitarian direction—and not simply for power, control, or domination. This volume will be essential reading for any student, scholar or reader interested in how totalitarianism does, and could, shape our modern political world.

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Book SynopsisLess than a century old, the concept of totalitarianism is one of the most controversial in political theory, with some proposing to abandon it altogether. In this accessible, wide-ranging introduction, David Roberts addresses the grounds for skepticism and shows that appropriately recast—as an aspiration and direction, rather than a system of domination—totalitarianism is essential for understanding the modern political universe. Surveying the career of the concept from the 1920s to today, Roberts shows how it might better be applied to the three ""classic"" regimes of Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, and the Stalinist Soviet Union. Extending totalitarianism’s reach into the twenty-first century, he then examines how Communist China, Vladimir Putin's Russia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS), and the threat of the technological “surveillance state” can be conceptualized in the totalitarian tradition. Roberts shows that although the term has come to have overwhelmingly negative connotations, some have enthusiastically pursued a totalitarian direction—and not simply for power, control, or domination. This volume will be essential reading for any student, scholar or reader interested in how totalitarianism does, and could, shape our modern political world.

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Book SynopsisThe history of humanity has only just begun. The Neolithic Revolution may have endowed us with unparalleled means of communication, subsistence, and knowledge acquisition. However, it is clear in today’s world that inequality, power hierarchies, and violence persist on a greater scale than ever before. In these two lectures, delivered to the large number of young people who gathered in the Lycée Henri-IV and the École nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris to hear him speak, Alain Badiou argues that we are still firmly rooted in the Neolithic era, subjugated by the structures of political power – property, family, and state. He calls for a second revolution to restore to each person their freedom and agency. Through an analysis of recent attempts at political organisation, including the Arab Spring, Occupy, and Nuit debout, Badiou shows that progress toward this goal will only be achieved through an emphasis on sameness, not difference. This rallying cry to the young from one of France’s most renowned radical thinkers will appeal to the many who read and follow his work, and to the millions of young people around the world who are passionate about redressing the deeply entrenched inequalities and divisions in our societies today.Trade Review"The main function of ideology today is not to crush actual resistance – this is the job of repressive state apparatuses – but to crush hope, to immediately denounce every critical project as opening a path at the end of which is something like the Gulag. At this precise point, Badiou’s wonderful short book intervenes: it brings hope, especially to the young whose situation is often without any prospects."—Slavoj Zizek, University of Ljubljana

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Book SynopsisThe history of humanity has only just begun. The Neolithic Revolution may have endowed us with unparalleled means of communication, subsistence, and knowledge acquisition. However, it is clear in today’s world that inequality, power hierarchies, and violence persist on a greater scale than ever before. In these two lectures, delivered to the large number of young people who gathered in the Lycée Henri-IV and the École nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris to hear him speak, Alain Badiou argues that we are still firmly rooted in the Neolithic era, subjugated by the structures of political power – property, family, and state. He calls for a second revolution to restore to each person their freedom and agency. Through an analysis of recent attempts at political organisation, including the Arab Spring, Occupy, and Nuit debout, Badiou shows that progress toward this goal will only be achieved through an emphasis on sameness, not difference. This rallying cry to the young from one of France’s most renowned radical thinkers will appeal to the many who read and follow his work, and to the millions of young people around the world who are passionate about redressing the deeply entrenched inequalities and divisions in our societies today.Trade Review"The main function of ideology today is not to crush actual resistance – this is the job of repressive state apparatuses – but to crush hope, to immediately denounce every critical project as opening a path at the end of which is something like the Gulag. At this precise point, Badiou’s wonderful short book intervenes: it brings hope, especially to the young whose situation is often without any prospects."—Slavoj Zizek, University of Ljubljana

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Book SynopsisHuman beings universally dream of a better world. For centuries they have expressed their yearning for ways of life that are free from oppression, want and fear, through philosophy, art, film and literature. In this concise and engaging book, Mark Jendrysik examines the multifarious ways utopians have posed the question of how human beings might establish justice and realize truly human values. Drawing upon a range of sources, from Plato’s Republic and Thomas More’s Utopia to Ursula Le Guin’s The Dispossessed, he argues that, though for many utopia means ‘demanding the impossible’, the goals that seemed out of reach for one generation are often realized in the next. Nonetheless, he shows that, while utopian thought points toward our most noble aspirations, it also illustrates the dangers of totalitarianism, of the surveillance state and of global climate change. This engaging book will be an invaluable guide for anyone seeking to understand how, for good or ill, utopian aspirations shape our lives, even in times that seem designed to close off dreams of a better world.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1 What is Utopia? What is Utopian Political Thought? 2 Utopianism before Utopia 3 Inventing Utopia 4 Utopia and the Age of Revolution 5 Utopia and Modernity 6 Utopia and/as Ideology 7 From Utopia to Dystopia 8 Does Utopia Have a Future? Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisSome embrace the idea of white privilege as an important concept that helps us to make sense of the connection between race and social and political disadvantages, while others are critical or even hostile. Regardless of personal views, it can be difficult to agree on what 'white privilege' even means. Philosopher Shannon Sullivan cuts through the confusion and cross-talk to challenge what ‘everybody knows’ about white privilege. Using real-life examples, she offers a candid assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of the term, to present a better understanding of how race functions in our societies. She argues that white privilege is about more than race, that not only white people can have white privilege, and that feeling guilty about privilege can have a negative effect on the very people you feel guilty towards. In the end, she offers practical solutions for eliminating white privilege and building a fairer society. Sullivan's forcefully argued book will inspire you to think again about white privilege and what it entails.Trade Review"Writing with verve and style, Shannon Sullivan confronts the complexity of everyday experiences and enactments of white privilege and what this entails not only for Black people and people of color, but for white people themselves."George Yancy, author of Backlash: What Happens When We Talk Honestly about Racism in America “White privilege is a concept more tossed around than seriously explored. In this valuable and concise text, Shannon Sullivan provides a detailed and illuminating analysis that everyone needs to read.”Charles Mills, City University of New York

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Book SynopsisThe philosophy of Paul Ricoeur is rarely viewed through the lens of political philosophy, and yet questions of power, and of how to live together in the polis, were a constant preoccupation of his writings. This volume brings together a selection of his texts spanning six decades, from 1958 to 2003, which together present Ricoeur’s political project in its coherence and diversity. In Ricoeur’s view, the political is the realm of a tension between “rationality” (the attempt to provide a coherent explanation of the world) and “irrationality,” which manifests itself in force and repression. This “political paradox” lies at the heart of politics, for the claim to explain the world generates its own form of violence: the more one desires the good, the more one is inclined to impose it. Ricoeur warns citizens, the guardians of democracy, against any totalizing system of thought and any dogmatic understanding of history. Power should be divided and controlled, and Ricoeur defends a form of political liberalism in which states are conscious of the limits of their power and respectful of the freedom of their citizens. Ranging from questions of power and repression to those of ethics, identity, and responsibility, these little-known political texts by one of the leading philosophers of the twentieth century will be of interest to students and scholars of philosophy, politics, and theology and to anyone concerned with the great political questions of our time.Trade Review"Ricoeur's insights...can continue to inform our thinking today."Society "[A] welcome collection of inspiring political texts."Philosophia ReformataTable of ContentsEditor’s Preface Note on the French Edition I. Theological-Political Prologue Chapter 1. The Adventures of the State and the Task of Christians Chapter 2. From Marxism to Contemporary Communism Chapter 3. Socialism Today II. The Paradoxes of the Political Chapter 4. Hegel Today Chapter 5. Morality, Ethics, and Politics Chapter 6. Responsibility and Fragility Chapter 7. The Paradoxes of Authority Chapter 8. Happiness, Out of Place III. Politics, Economy, and Societies Chapter 9. Is Crisis a Phenomenon Specific to Modernity? Chapter 10. Money: From One Suspicion to the Next Chapter 11. The Erosion of Tolerance and the Resistance of the Intolerable Chapter 12. The Condition of the Foreigner Chapter 13. Fragile Identity: Respect for the Other and Cultural Identity IV. Europe Chapter 14. What new Ethos for Europe? Chapter 15. The Dialogue of Cultures, the Confrontation of Heritages Chapter 16. The Crisis of Historical Consciousness and Europe V. Epilogue Chapter 17. The Struggle for Recognition and the Economy of the Gift Origin of the Texts Notes Index

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Book SynopsisThe philosophy of Paul Ricoeur is rarely viewed through the lens of political philosophy, and yet questions of power, and of how to live together in the polis, were a constant preoccupation of his writings. This volume brings together a selection of his texts spanning six decades, from 1958 to 2003, which together present Ricoeur’s political project in its coherence and diversity. In Ricoeur’s view, the political is the realm of a tension between “rationality” (the attempt to provide a coherent explanation of the world) and “irrationality,” which manifests itself in force and repression. This “political paradox” lies at the heart of politics, for the claim to explain the world generates its own form of violence: the more one desires the good, the more one is inclined to impose it. Ricoeur warns citizens, the guardians of democracy, against any totalizing system of thought and any dogmatic understanding of history. Power should be divided and controlled, and Ricoeur defends a form of political liberalism in which states are conscious of the limits of their power and respectful of the freedom of their citizens. Ranging from questions of power and repression to those of ethics, identity, and responsibility, these little-known political texts by one of the leading philosophers of the twentieth century will be of interest to students and scholars of philosophy, politics, and theology and to anyone concerned with the great political questions of our time.Trade Review"Ricoeur's insights...can continue to inform our thinking today."Society "[A] welcome collection of inspiring political texts."Philosophia ReformataTable of ContentsEditor’s Preface Note on the French Edition I. Theological-Political Prologue Chapter 1. The Adventures of the State and the Task of Christians Chapter 2. From Marxism to Contemporary Communism Chapter 3. Socialism Today II. The Paradoxes of the Political Chapter 4. Hegel Today Chapter 5. Morality, Ethics, and Politics Chapter 6. Responsibility and Fragility Chapter 7. The Paradoxes of Authority Chapter 8. Happiness, Out of Place III. Politics, Economy, and Societies Chapter 9. Is Crisis a Phenomenon Specific to Modernity? Chapter 10. Money: From One Suspicion to the Next Chapter 11. The Erosion of Tolerance and the Resistance of the Intolerable Chapter 12. The Condition of the Foreigner Chapter 13. Fragile Identity: Respect for the Other and Cultural Identity IV. Europe Chapter 14. What new Ethos for Europe? Chapter 15. The Dialogue of Cultures, the Confrontation of Heritages Chapter 16. The Crisis of Historical Consciousness and Europe V. Epilogue Chapter 17. The Struggle for Recognition and the Economy of the Gift Origin of the Texts Notes Index

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Book SynopsisJürgen Habermas’s book The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere, first published in 1962, has long been recognized as one of the most important works of twentieth-century social thought. Blending philosophy and social history, it offered an account of the public sphere as a domain that mediates between civil society and the state in which citizens could discuss matters of common concern and participate in democratic decision-making through the formation of public opinion. Now, in view of the digital revolution and the resulting crisis of democracy, he returns to this important topic. In this new book Habermas focuses on digital media, in particular social media, which are increasingly relegating traditional mass media to the background. While the new media initially promised to empower users, this promise is being undermined by their algorithm-steered platform structure that promotes self-enclosed informational ‘bubbles’ and discursive ‘echo chambers’ in which users split into a plurality of pseudo-publics that are largely closed off from one other. Habermas argues that, without appropriate regulation of digital media, this new structural transformation is in danger of hollowing out the institutions through which democracies can shape social and economic processes and address urgent collective problems, ranging from growing social inequality to the climate crisis. Table of ContentsPreface Reflections and Hypotheses on a Further Structural Transformation of the Political Public Sphere Deliberative Democracy. An Interview What is Meant by ‘Deliberative Democracy’? Objections and Misunderstandings

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Book SynopsisIn this book, renowned anthropologist Michael Jackson draws on philosophy, biography, ethnography, and literature to explore the meanings and affordances of friendship—a relationship just as significant as, yet somehow different from, kinship and love. Beginning with Aristotle’s accounts of friendship as a political virtue and Montaigne’s famous essay on friendship as a form of love, Jackson examines the tension between the political and personal resonances of friendship in the philosophy of Hannah Arendt, the biography of the Indian historian Brijen Gupta, and the oral narratives of a Kuranko storyteller, Keti Ferenke Koroma. He offers reflections on childhood friends, imaginary friends, lifelong friendships, and friendships with animals. He ruminates particularly on the complications of friendship in the context of anthropological fieldwork, exploring the contradiction between the egalitarian spirit of friendship on the one hand and, on the other, the power imbalance between ethnographers and their interlocutors. Through these stories, Jackson explores the unpredictable interplay of mutability and mutuality in intimate human relationships, and the critical importance of choice in forming friendship—what it means to be loyal to friends through good times and bad, and even in the face of danger. Through a blend of memoir, theory, ethnography, and fiction, Jackson shows us how the elective affinities of friendship transcend culture, gender, and age, and offer us perennial means of taking stock of our lives and getting a measure of our own self-worth.Trade Review"A compelling exploration of friendship, rich with insights and astute anthropological and philosophical reflections. Friendship offers a highly original treatment of an important topic in clear and incisive terms. I know of no other work that examines the many diverse aspects of friendship in people’s lives in such rich and informed ways." * Robert Desjarlais, Sarah Lawrence College *

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Book SynopsisFor three centuries, concepts of the state have been animated by one of the most powerful metaphors in politics: the body politic, a claustrophobic and bounded image of sovereignty. Climate change, neoliberalism, mass migration, and other aspects of the late Anthropocene have increasingly revealed the limitations of this metaphor. Just as the human body is not whole and separate from other bodies—comprising microbes, bacteria, water, and radioactive isotopes—Stefanie R. Fishel argues that the body politic of the state exists in dense entanglement with other communities and forms of life. Drawing on insights from continental philosophy, science and technology studies, and international relations theory, this path-breaking book critiques the concept of the body politic on the grounds of its very materiality. Fishel both redefines and extends the metaphor of the body politic and its role in understanding an increasingly posthuman, globalized world politics. By conceiving of bodies and states as lively vessels, living harmoniously with multiplicity and the biosphere, she argues that a radical shift in metaphors can challenge a politics based on fear to open new forms of global political practice and community. Reframing the concept of the body politic to accommodate greater levels of complexity, Fishel suggests, will result in new configurations for the political and social organization necessary to build a world in which the planet’s inhabitants do not merely live but actively thrive.Trade Review"How do bodies matter in international relations? In The Microbial State, Stefanie R. Fishel offers up a lively, timely, scientifically-engaged, philosophically-rich, and persuasive answer to that question. This wonderfully readable and teachable book presents ‘politics’ as a swarm of activities immanent to a biosphere, and ‘human agency’ as a power profoundly entangled with the goings-on of our microbial messmates."—Jane Bennett, author of Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things"An important intervention that will contribute in powerful and novel ways to the ongoing debates on corporeality, materialism, and international relations. Stefanie R. Fishel's work is certain to become influential."—Mark B. Salter, editor of Making Things International 1 and Making Things International 2"Fishel’s style of is not only academic; it shares new perspectives on crossing disciplinary boundaries through IR and biology while it remains enjoyable to read. This amusing book is full of possibilities and raises even more questions when it ends."—Politics, Religion & Ideology "Fishel’s biopolitical project seeks to extend this kind of thinking about the immune system, as something much more than just a line of defence, from the body to the State as a way of challenging the exclusionary state’s presentation of outsiders as potential contaminants and threats." —Radical PhilosophyTable of ContentsContentsPreface and AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Involutionary Politics1. Corporeal Politics2. Lively Subjects, Bodies Politic3. States in Nature, Nature in States4. Posthuman PoliticsCoda: New Metaphors for Global LivingNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisThe friend, the enemy, the stranger, the refugee or deportee, and the survivor. In singular and provocative fashion, Gregg Lambert’s Philosophy after Friendship introduces us to the key social personae that have populated modern political philosophy. Drawing on the philosophies of Deleuze and Derrida, as well as the work of Indo-European linguist Émile Benveniste, Lambert constructs a genealogy to demonstrate how political thought has been structured by the emergence of such “conceptual personae.” At the center of Philosophy after Friendship is the persona of the friend, together with the idea of friendship, on which the democratic ideals of consensus, fraternity, and equality are based. Lambert argues that the vitality of this conceptual persona, originated by the Greeks, has been exhausted by centuries of war. In fact, we might today be witnessing the overturning of an earlier philosophical idealism that saw friendship as the destination of the political and, in its place, the emergence of a nonphilosophical understanding that has set perpetual war as the ultimate ground from which future thinking of the political must depart. In his Conclusion, Lambert proposes a truly “postwar philosophy” that takes as its first principle the idea of perpetual peace, which would require nothing less than a complete reevaluation of the goals of any future political philosophy, if not the meaning of philosophy itself.Trade Review"This is a timely, relevant book. By drawing from Deleuze and Guattari's philosophy, especially their concept of friendship, Gregg Lambert offers an important reconceptualization of Kant's essay on perpetual peace, and in doing so he sets the stage for a post-war philosophy that remains true to Kant's ideal."—Jeffrey Bell, Southeastern Louisiana University"Readers expecting a book ‘about’ Deleuze in a limited sense will encounter instead a far wider-ranging and more distinctive work."—French Studies"Gregg Lambert’s excellent new book is the product of a long-held interest in the Kantian idea of perpetual peace as a paradigm for thinking the future of global politics."—SymplokēTable of ContentsContentsIntroduction. Philosophy after Friendship: Prolegomena for a “Post-War” Philosophy1. Friend (Fr. L’ami)2. Enemy (Ger. der Feind)3. Foreigner(Lat. perigrinus)4. Stranger (Gr. xénos)5. Deportee (Fr. deportée)6. A Revolutionary People (Fr. machine de guerre)Conclusion. Toward a Peaceful Confederacy? (Lat. foidus pacificum)AcknowledgmentsNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisExpanding the insights of Arlette Farge and Michel Foucault’s Disorderly Families into policing, public order, (in)justice, and daily life What might it mean for ordinary people to intervene in the circulation of power between police and the streets, sovereigns and their subjects? How did the police come to understand themselves as responsible for the circulation of people as much as things—and to separate law and justice from the maintenance of a newly emergent civil order? These are among the many questions addressed in the interpretive essays in Archives of Infamy.Crisscrossing the Atlantic to bring together unpublished radio broadcasts, book reviews, and essays by historians, geographers, and political theorists, Archives of Infamy provides historical and archival contexts to the recent translation of Disorderly Families by Arlette Farge and Michel Foucault. This volume includes new translations of key texts, including a radio address Foucault gave in 1983 that explains the writing process for Disorderly Families; two essays by Foucault not readily available in English; and a previously untranslated essay by Farge that describes how historians have appropriated Foucault.Archives of Infamy pushes past old debates between philosophers and historians to offer a new perspective on the crystallization of ideas—of the family, gender relations, and political power—into social relationships and the regimes of power they engender. Contributors: Roger Chartier, Collège de France; Stuart Elden, U of Warwick; Arlette Farge, Centre national de recherche scientifique; Michel Foucault (1926–1984); Jean-Philippe Guinle, Catholic Institute of Paris; Michel Heurteaux; Pierre Nora, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales; Michael Rey (1953–1993); Thomas Scott-Railton; Elizabeth Wingrove, U of Michigan.Trade Review"Listening to the voices rising from the archives, grasping the distant echoes of confrontations with power, exhuming the tenuous grain of tiny existences—this is what Michel Foucault chose to do. Does the philosopher’s gesture conflict with the historical understanding of archival material? This look back at an exciting debate asks: is it possible to build together a concern for anonymous lives, a literary passion for documentary fragments, and the desire to make a history of the discourses and practices of power?" —Judith Revel, Université Paris Nanterre"The book should be of interest to Foucault scholars, political scientists, historians of eighteenth century France, as well as general readers."—Foucault Studies

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Book SynopsisExpanding the insights of Arlette Farge and Michel Foucault’s Disorderly Families into policing, public order, (in)justice, and daily life What might it mean for ordinary people to intervene in the circulation of power between police and the streets, sovereigns and their subjects? How did the police come to understand themselves as responsible for the circulation of people as much as things—and to separate law and justice from the maintenance of a newly emergent civil order? These are among the many questions addressed in the interpretive essays in Archives of Infamy.Crisscrossing the Atlantic to bring together unpublished radio broadcasts, book reviews, and essays by historians, geographers, and political theorists, Archives of Infamy provides historical and archival contexts to the recent translation of Disorderly Families by Arlette Farge and Michel Foucault. This volume includes new translations of key texts, including a radio address Foucault gave in 1983 that explains the writing process for Disorderly Families; two essays by Foucault not readily available in English; and a previously untranslated essay by Farge that describes how historians have appropriated Foucault.Archives of Infamy pushes past old debates between philosophers and historians to offer a new perspective on the crystallization of ideas—of the family, gender relations, and political power—into social relationships and the regimes of power they engender. Contributors: Roger Chartier, Collège de France; Stuart Elden, U of Warwick; Arlette Farge, Centre national de recherche scientifique; Michel Foucault (1926–1984); Jean-Philippe Guinle, Catholic Institute of Paris; Michel Heurteaux; Pierre Nora, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales; Michael Rey (1953–1993); Thomas Scott-Railton; Elizabeth Wingrove, U of Michigan.Trade Review"Listening to the voices rising from the archives, grasping the distant echoes of confrontations with power, exhuming the tenuous grain of tiny existences—this is what Michel Foucault chose to do. Does the philosopher’s gesture conflict with the historical understanding of archival material? This look back at an exciting debate asks: is it possible to build together a concern for anonymous lives, a literary passion for documentary fragments, and the desire to make a history of the discourses and practices of power?" —Judith Revel, Université Paris Nanterre"The book should be of interest to Foucault scholars, political scientists, historians of eighteenth century France, as well as general readers."—Foucault Studies

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Book SynopsisA groundbreaking collection of writings by Michel Foucault and the Prisons Information Group documenting their efforts to expose France’s inhumane treatment of prisoners Founded by Michel Foucault and others in 1970–71, the Prisons Information Group (GIP) circulated information about the inhumane conditions within the French prison system. Intolerable makes available for the first time in English a fully annotated compilation of materials produced by the GIP during its brief but influential existence, including an exclusive new interview with GIP member Hélène Cixous and writings by Gilles Deleuze and Jean Genet. These archival documents—public announcements, manifestos, reports, pamphlets, interventions, press conference statements, interviews, and round table discussions—trace the GIP’s establishment in post-1968 political turmoil, the new models of social activism it pioneered, the prison revolts it supported across France, and the retrospective assessments that followed its denouement. At the same time, Intolerable offers a rich, concrete exploration of Foucault’s concept of resistance, providing a new understanding of the arc of his intellectual development and the genesis of his most influential book, Discipline and Punish.Presenting the account of France’s most vibrant prison resistance movement in its own words and on its own terms, this significant and relevant collection also connects the approach and activities of the GIP to radical prison resistance movements today.Trade Review"The Prisons Information Group was a crucial part of Foucault’s political trajectory, but it was an intensely collaborative project between intellectuals, prisoners, and their families. Expertly translated and introduced, this is the definitive collection of the group’s writings. Although the focus is France, the texts also illuminate other European countries, while the Algerian war opens up questions of colonialism, and the group’s links to the Black Panthers make it important for an understanding of the politics of race. A significant book that is both long overdue and a timely intervention in contemporary debates about police and prison abolition and reform."—Stuart Elden, author of The Early Foucault"Intolerable contributes to incarceration studies by highlighting the contributions (and pointing to the contradictions) of the Prisons Information Group (GIP). By emphasizing the activism of the GIP, it demonstrates how the author and theorist as an academic activist was influenced by the militancy of political actors and revolutionaries who took great risks, especially as incarcerated intellectuals and rebels, to challenge repression structured by racial/colonial capitalism and captivity."—Joy James, author of Seeking the Beloved Community: A Feminist Race Reader"Though ‘resistance’ in the Trump Era became more of a brand than a battle plan, it is not hard to see the relevance of the Prisons Information Group to the current movement for prison reform and abolition: lessons of past resistance are always important to the future."—Literary Hub

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Book SynopsisA groundbreaking collection of writings by Michel Foucault and the Prisons Information Group documenting their efforts to expose France’s inhumane treatment of prisoners Founded by Michel Foucault and others in 1970–71, the Prisons Information Group (GIP) circulated information about the inhumane conditions within the French prison system. Intolerable makes available for the first time in English a fully annotated compilation of materials produced by the GIP during its brief but influential existence, including an exclusive new interview with GIP member Hélène Cixous and writings by Gilles Deleuze and Jean Genet. These archival documents—public announcements, manifestos, reports, pamphlets, interventions, press conference statements, interviews, and round table discussions—trace the GIP’s establishment in post-1968 political turmoil, the new models of social activism it pioneered, the prison revolts it supported across France, and the retrospective assessments that followed its denouement. At the same time, Intolerable offers a rich, concrete exploration of Foucault’s concept of resistance, providing a new understanding of the arc of his intellectual development and the genesis of his most influential book, Discipline and Punish.Presenting the account of France’s most vibrant prison resistance movement in its own words and on its own terms, this significant and relevant collection also connects the approach and activities of the GIP to radical prison resistance movements today.Trade Review"The Prisons Information Group was a crucial part of Foucault’s political trajectory, but it was an intensely collaborative project between intellectuals, prisoners, and their families. Expertly translated and introduced, this is the definitive collection of the group’s writings. Although the focus is France, the texts also illuminate other European countries, while the Algerian war opens up questions of colonialism, and the group’s links to the Black Panthers make it important for an understanding of the politics of race. A significant book that is both long overdue and a timely intervention in contemporary debates about police and prison abolition and reform."—Stuart Elden, author of The Early Foucault"Intolerable contributes to incarceration studies by highlighting the contributions (and pointing to the contradictions) of the Prisons Information Group (GIP). By emphasizing the activism of the GIP, it demonstrates how the author and theorist as an academic activist was influenced by the militancy of political actors and revolutionaries who took great risks, especially as incarcerated intellectuals and rebels, to challenge repression structured by racial/colonial capitalism and captivity."—Joy James, author of Seeking the Beloved Community: A Feminist Race Reader"Though ‘resistance’ in the Trump Era became more of a brand than a battle plan, it is not hard to see the relevance of the Prisons Information Group to the current movement for prison reform and abolition: lessons of past resistance are always important to the future."—Literary Hub

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Book SynopsisA philosophical challenge to the ableist conflation of disability and pain More than 2,000 years ago, Aristotle said: “let there be a law that no deformed child shall live.” This idea is alive and well today. During the past century, Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. argued that the United States can forcibly sterilize intellectually disabled women and philosopher Peter Singer argued for the right of parents to euthanize certain cognitively disabled infants. The Life Worth Living explores how and why such arguments persist by investigating the exclusion of and discrimination against disabled people across the history of Western moral philosophy.Joel Michael Reynolds argues that this history demonstrates a fundamental mischaracterization of the meaning of disability, thanks to the conflation of lived experiences of disability with those of pain and suffering. Building on decades of activism and scholarship in the field, Reynolds shows how longstanding views of disability are misguided and unjust, and he lays out a vision of what an anti-ableist moral future requires.The Life Worth Living is the first sustained examination of disability through the lens of the history of moral philosophy and phenomenology, and it demonstrates how lived experiences of disability demand a far richer account of human flourishing, embodiment, community, and politics in philosophical inquiry and beyond.Trade Review"In this philosophically ambitious and deeply personal book, Joel Michael Reynolds exposes the ableist mistake that has afflicted philosophy at least since Socrates asked what makes a life worth living. To repair the damage done by that mistake, Reynolds exhorts us to stop looking for the worth of human lives in individual ‘normate’ bodies and to start building systems of access and care that make it possible for people with all sorts of bodies to flourish. Anyone committed to understanding what disability justice requires should read this book."—Erik Parens, director, The Hastings Center Initiative in Bioethics and the Humanities"Joel Michael Reynolds’s The Life Worth Living is the most insightful analysis of pain since Elaine Scarry’s The Body in Pain. His phenomenology of foreboding, beholdenness, bioreckoning, and disruption is brilliant. And his critical engagement with ableist assumptions that run throughout the history of thought and continue into contemporary medical discourses powerfully demonstrates that these discourses continue to conflate disability, pain, and harm in ways that devalue ‘disabled’ lives."—Kelly Oliver, Vanderbilt UniversityTable of ContentsIntroduction: The Ableist ConflationPart I. Pain1. Theories of Pain2. A Phenomenology of Chronic PainPart II. Disability3. Theories of Disability4. A Phenomenology of Multiple SclerosisPart III. Ability5. Theories of Ability6. A Phenomenology of AbilityConclusion: An Anti-Ableist FutureAcknowledgmentsNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisExcavating Marx’s early writings to rethink the rights of the poor and the idea of the commons in an era of unprecedented privatization The politics of dispossession are everywhere. Troubling developments in intellectual property, genomics, and biotechnology are undermining established concepts of property, while land appropriation and ecological crises reconfigure basic institutions of ownership. In The Dispossessed, Daniel Bensaïd examines Karl Marx’s early writings to establish a new framework for addressing the rights of the poor, the idea of the commons, and private property as a social institution.In his series of articles from 1842–43 about Rhineland parliamentary debates over the privatization of public lands and criminalization of poverty under the rubric of the “theft of wood,” Marx identified broader anxieties about customary law, property rights, and capitalist efforts to privatize the commons. Bensaïd studies these writings to interrogate how dispossession continues to function today as a key modality of power. Brilliantly tacking between past and present, The Dispossessed discloses continuity and rupture in our relationships to property and, through that, to one another.In addition to Bensaïd’s prescient work of political philosophy, The Dispossessed includes new translations of Marx’s original “theft of wood” articles and an introductory essay by Robert Nichols that lucidly contextualizes the essays.Trade Review"In 1842, the young Karl Marx analyzed the consequences of capitalist rural enclosures in Rhineland. Today, patent rights, biotechnologies, and different forms of intellectual property, Daniel Bensaïd convincingly argues, are means of dispossession of human beings exactly as the land enclosures of almost two centuries ago had been a crucial moment in the process of the accumulation of capital. Far from being ‘neutral’ or ‘natural,’ market society was—and still remains—built as a planned dispossession. This is a timely and highly original essay by a towering figure of French critical thought."—Enzo Traverso, author of Left-Wing Melancholia: Marxism, History, and Memory"Within a single volume, this book makes available to English-language readers for the first time not only fresh translations of Marx’s ‘wood theft articles’ but also Daniel Bensaïd’s lucid and incisive commentary on these pieces. Bensaïd’s short book brings the Marx articles alive for contemporary audiences and demonstrates their enduring relevance for longstanding debates about law, property, and rights."—Samuel A. Chambers, Johns Hopkins University"Bensaïd’s essay, as contextualized in this volume by Nichols, successfully pushes, especially those of a Marxist orientation, to make the idea of dispossession more central to their theoretical and practical work."—Marx & Philosophy Table of ContentsContentsCrisis and Kleptocracy: Bensaïd for Our TimesRobert NicholsNotes on TranslationThe Dispossessed: Karl Marx, the Wood Thieves, and the Right of the PoorI. The Law on the Theft of Wood and the Rights of the Poor“Rural Pauperism” and “Forest Malfeasance”—Hybrid and Uncertain Property—Market versus Popular EconomyII. A Social War of PropertiesThe Right of Necessity versus the Right of Property—“Property Is Theft!”—Possession and Property—Theft or ExploitationIII. The Customary Rights of the Poor to the Communal Goods of Humanity The Privatization of Knowledge—The Privatization of Life—The Common Good and the Freely Given—Inappropriable Goods—Individual and Private Property—The Age of Access?—Enforcing Rights (against Existence)—Who Will Win?Proceedings of the Sixth Rhine Province Assembly, Third Article: Debates on the Law Concerning the Theft of Wood Karl MarxSelected Works by Daniel BensaïdNotesIndex

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