Revolutionaries and Global Politics: War Machines from the Bolsheviks to Isis

Description

Provides a novel perspective on the concept and practice of revolutionary movement as an international phenomenon Draws on Deleuze and Guattari’s war machine and understanding of hybridity Introduces the concept of hybrid revolutionaries as movements that seek to overturn the existing global order, yet draw on and even reproduce some of its founding principles Advances current theoretical and practical debates on the state system, revolution and violence Deploys the conceptual framework to situate ISIS in larger histories of discontents of the international order This is a book about discontents of the global order. Building on the innovative reading of ISIS as an international revolutionary actor, it explores the movement’s everyday political practices and confronts them with other global revolutionaries to arrive at a novel understanding of revolutionary agency in global politics. Benefiting in particular from Deleuze and Guattari’s notion of war machine and understanding of hybridity, the book shows how modern revolutionaries seek to disrupt the existing Westphalian order of modern states, yet are inevitably entangled with it and even reproduce in their conduct its founding principles. Including discussions on movements ranging from the Bolsheviks and Palestinian revolutionary groups to Khomeinists, to insurgents in Iraq and ISIS, the book pushes forward debates informed by critical social theory of revolution, violence, resistance and global order. Contents Notes on Contributors 1 Introduction: Revolution, Hybridity and Global Order Part I Hybrid Revolutionaries and Where to Find Them 2 War Machines, Multiplicity and Rage against the Order: A Theory of the Hybrid Revolutionary 3 The Revolutionary Symbol Has No Power: A Semiotic Reading of Hybridity Part II The Islamic State: Inside Out 4 ISIS’s War Machine Between the Revolution and the International System and Its Adaptation 5 On Top of the Revolutionary Game: Uncovering the ‘Islamic State’s’ Revolutionary Message 6 ‘Islamic State’ and the Neoliberal War Machine: Power, Resistance and Revolution Part III . . . And Not That Exceptional? 7 The Typical Troublemakers: Bolsheviks as Hybrid Revolutionaries 8 First ‘International Terrorists’ or Local Non‑recognised Government? Palestinians and Hybrid Sovereignty 9 The Khomeinists: Between Sedentarisation and Perpetual Revolution 10 Sealed with a Thumbprint: The Hybrid Politics of a Martyrdom Contract 11 Iran, Proxy Warfare and the Tradition of State Sovereignty 12 Conclusion: Recalling the Hybrid Revolutionary Index