The post-political and its discontents spaces of depoliticization, spectres of radical politics

Description

This is a theoretical and practical interrogation of how the post political has come to dominate governance. We are told that we live in a 'post ideological' era; that we have moved 'beyond Left and Right'; and that we are 'all in it together'. Democracy has been reduced to the consensual administration of economic necessity. How can we make sense of this form of depoliticisation? How does it manifest itself in different spheres of social life? And in what ways is it being challenged or subverted? Contributors to this volume respond to these questions through a wide ranging critical engagement with the concept of the post political developed by Chantal Mouffe, Jacques Ranciere, Slavoj Zizek, Alain Badiou and others. It interrogates the theoretical literature on the post political - its value and limits, its internal tensions, and the possibility of creative syntheses with other approaches. It critically engages with multiple cases of contemporary depoliticisation, such as multiculturalism, philanthropy, participatory development, sustainability planning and the regulation of biotechnology. It assesses the emancipatory potential of anti austerity protests, the Occupy movement and other political struggles in the context of continuing processes of post politicisation. Half-title Page Title Page Dedication Copyright Contents List of Contributors Seeds of Dystopia: Post-Politics and the Return of the Political Part I Spaces of Depoliticisation 1. The Post-Politics of Sustainability Planning: Privatisation and the Demise of Democratic Government 2. The Post-Political and the End of Nature: The Genetically Modified Organism 3. The New Development Architecture and the Post-Political in the Global South 4. Opening Up the Post-Political Condition: Multiculturalism and the Matrix of Depoliticisation 5. The Jouissance of Philanthrocapitalism: Enjoyment as a Post-Political Factor 6. Religious Antinomies of Post-Politics 7. Post-Ecologist Governmentality: Post-Democracy, Post-Politics and the Politics of Unsustainability Part II Spectres of Radical Politics 8. Insurgent Architects, Radical Cities and the Promise of the Political 9. The Limits of Post-Politics: Rethinking Radical Social Enterprise 10. Neither Cosmopolitanism nor Multipolarity: The Political Beyond Global Governmentality 11. Against a Speculative Leftism 12. Spatialising Politics: Antagonistic Imaginaries of Indignant Squares 13. After Post-Politics: Occupation and the Return of Communism 14. The Enigma of Revolt: Militant Politics in a ‘Post-Political’ Age There Is No Alternative Index