Jens Bartelson – författare

Vi lever alla omgivna av ett förflutet som på olika sätt påverkar nuet. Men hur ska vi förstå det förflutnas fortsatta verkan och närvaro i samtiden? Inom historieteori diskuterades länge frågan om vi kan veta något med säkerhet om det förflutna. Men under senare decennier har intresset snarare riktats mot de olika sätt på vilka det förflutna finns kvar och formar de efterkommande. En dåtidsorienterad historieskrivning har fått ge plats åt en som rör sig i relationer mellan olika tidsliga dimensioner. I takt med att den historiska tiden historiseras väcks nya frågor: Är det meningsfullt att tala om en sammanhängande fortskridande tid eller bör vi snarare tänka oss flera parallella, multipla och korsande tider? Hur ska vi förstå historisk tid efter att framstegstanken själv alltmer kommit att framstå som en konstruktion? Frågor om vår egen plats i ett historiskt landskap öppnar för nya sätt att tänka det historiska och att historisera, där genealogiska, arkeologiska, dekonstruktiva, konstellativa och andra former av motläsningar tycks öppna nya och olikartade dörrar till det förflutna, i dess skilda gestalter och verkligheter. "Den historiska tidens former" är den första fristående delen i trebandsverket "Historiens hemvist". Den samlar nitton forskare inom skilda ämnen som behandlar frågor om historiens slut, hemsökelser och gengångare, döda och odöda, postapokalyps och messianism, exil, narrativitet och genealogi, polytemporalitet, anakronism och tidens mångfaldigande. Sammantaget bidrar den till att ge nya kartor över det samtida historiska medvetandet i dess struktur och förvandling. Volymen är redigerad av Victoria Fareld, forskare i idéhistoria vid Stockholms universitet, och Hans Ruin, professor i filosofi vid Södertörns högskola, båda knutna till forskningsprogrammet "Tid, minne, representation".

This book is a critical inquiry into sovereignty and argues that the meaning and functions performed by this concept have changed significantly during the past decades, with profound implications for the ontological status of the state and the modus operandi of the international system as a whole.Although we have grown accustomed to regarding sovereignty as a defining characteristic of the modern state and as a constitutive principle of the international system, Sovereignty as Symbolic Form argues that recent changes indicate that sovereignty has been turned into something granted, contingent upon its responsible exercise in accordance with the norms and values of an imagined international community. Hence we need a new understanding of sovereignty in order to clarify the logic of its current usage in theory and practice alike, and its connection to broader concerns of social ontology: what kind of world do we inhabit, and of what kind of entities is this world composed?This book will be of interest to students of International Relations, Critical Security and International Politics.

This book is a critical inquiry into sovereignty and argues that the meaning and functions performed by this concept have changed significantly during the past decades, with profound implications for the ontological status of the state and the modus operandi of the international system as a whole.Although we have grown accustomed to regarding sovereignty as a defining characteristic of the modern state and as a constitutive principle of the international system, Sovereignty as Symbolic Form argues that recent changes indicate that sovereignty has been turned into something granted, contingent upon its responsible exercise in accordance with the norms and values of an imagined international community. Hence we need a new understanding of sovereignty in order to clarify the logic of its current usage in theory and practice alike, and its connection to broader concerns of social ontology: what kind of world do we inhabit, and of what kind of entities is this world composed?This book will be of interest to students of International Relations, Critical Security and International Politics.

This book explores the alternative futures of political community and moves beyond the critique of what is wrong with existing, state-based forms of political community. It does so not with the defence of a particular normative model of political community in mind, but rather in the quest for new ways of thinking about political community itself. Exploring how the political must be rethought in the twenty-first century and beyond, this book is divided into three parts:Part I focuses on the core problem that, despite the obvious need to rethink political community ‘beyond’ the nation state, our conceptual language is still thoroughly shaped by modernity, its prioritisation of the state and sovereignty, and its assumption of unifying progress in history. Part II focuses on postmodern political community, these chapters take up the calls made above for new thinking about political community that goes ‘beyond’ modern conceptions. Part III turns to the question of the emergence and decline of new forms of political community. The purpose of this section is to consider how the transformation of political community occurs in practice, and what the primary driver of this change is globally, locally and historically. This book will be of strong interest to students and scholars of International Relations, Political and Social Theory.

Globality, Democracy and Civil Society explores the relationship between the concepts of democracy and civil society through a comparison of their meaning and function in different historical and cultural contexts. This volume presents detailed contextual studies in Europe, North America, Japan, Russia and Turkey. The contributors explore different ways of understanding and developing democratic practices and institutions. Rather than projecting the conditions of modern representative, state-centric democracy onto the global realm, they propose ways of rethinking these very conditions in terms of human diversity and difference. This is done by exploring conceptions of democracy that reconcile cultural plurality with democratic practices, and by using a number of examples and perspectives framed by a global context, rather than by geographical divides between East and West. The contributors are not trying to define the concept of civil society, but rather demonstrating the different ways it is deployed in political practice and disseminated through on-going processes of globalisation.This book will be of interest to scholars and students of global democracy and governance, cosmopolitan democracy, the future of civil society in a globalising world, comparative politics and political thought.

This book explores the alternative futures of political community and moves beyond the critique of what is wrong with existing, state-based forms of political community. It does so not with the defence of a particular normative model of political community in mind, but rather in the quest for new ways of thinking about political community itself. Exploring how the political must be rethought in the twenty-first century and beyond, this book is divided into three parts:Part I focuses on the core problem that, despite the obvious need to rethink political community ‘beyond’ the nation state, our conceptual language is still thoroughly shaped by modernity, its prioritisation of the state and sovereignty, and its assumption of unifying progress in history. Part II focuses on postmodern political community, these chapters take up the calls made above for new thinking about political community that goes ‘beyond’ modern conceptions. Part III turns to the question of the emergence and decline of new forms of political community. The purpose of this section is to consider how the transformation of political community occurs in practice, and what the primary driver of this change is globally, locally and historically. This book will be of strong interest to students and scholars of International Relations, Political and Social Theory.

What kind of political order would there be in the absence of the state? Jens Bartelson argues that we are currently unable to imagine what might lurk 'beyond', because our basic concepts of political order are conditioned by our experience of statehood. In this study, he investigates the concept of the state historically as well as philosophically, considering a range of thinkers and theories. He also considers the vexed issue of authority: modern political discourse questions the form and content of authority, but makes it all but impossible to talk about the foundations of authority. Largely due to the existing practices of political and scientific criticism, authority appears to be unquestionable. Bartelson's wide-ranging and readable discussion of the suppositions and presuppositions of statehood will be of interest to scholars and upper-level students of political theory and social theory, and philosophy of social science.

The concept of sovereignty is central to international relations theory and theories of state formation, and provides the foundation of the conventional separation of modern politics into domestic and international spheres. In this book Jens Bartelson provides a critical analysis and conceptual history of sovereignty, dealing with this separation as reflected in philosophical and political texts during three periods: the Renaissance, the Classical Age, and Modernity. He argues that the concept of sovereignty and its place within political discourse are conditioned by philosophical and historiographical discontinuities between the periods, and that sovereignty should be regarded as a concept contingent upon, rather than fundamental to, political science and its history.

Throughout the history of Western political thought, the creation of a world community has been seen as a way of overcoming discord between political communities without imposing sovereign authority from above. Jens Bartelson argues that a paradox lies at the centre of discussions of world community. The very same division of mankind into distinct peoples living in different places which makes the idea of a world community morally compelling has also been the main obstacle to its successful realization. His book offers a philosophical and historical analysis of the idea of world community by exploring the relationship between theories of world community and changing cosmological beliefs from the late Middle Ages to the present.

Throughout the history of Western political thought, the creation of a world community has been seen as a way of overcoming discord between political communities without imposing sovereign authority from above. Jens Bartelson argues that a paradox lies at the centre of discussions of world community. The very same division of mankind into distinct peoples living in different places which makes the idea of a world community morally compelling has also been the main obstacle to its successful realization. His book offers a philosophical and historical analysis of the idea of world community by exploring the relationship between theories of world community and changing cosmological beliefs from the late Middle Ages to the present.

What kind of political order would there be in the absence of the state? Jens Bartelson argues that we are currently unable to imagine what might lurk 'beyond', because our basic concepts of political order are conditioned by our experience of statehood. In this study, he investigates the concept of the state historically as well as philosophically, considering a range of thinkers and theories. He also considers the vexed issue of authority: modern political discourse questions the form and content of authority, but makes it all but impossible to talk about the foundations of authority. Largely due to the existing practices of political and scientific criticism, authority appears to be unquestionable. Bartelson's wide-ranging and readable discussion of the suppositions and presuppositions of statehood will be of interest to scholars and upper-level students of political theory and social theory, and philosophy of social science.

When and how did the modern world become an international one? Jens Bartelson, a leading scholar of the history of international thought, provides new answers to this question by analyzing how relations between polities have been conceptualized across different historical contexts from the sixteenth century to the present day. A global intellectual history of the international system, this book challenges the widespread assumption that this system emerged as a result of a transition from empires to states, instead proposing that the international realm is but a continuation of imperial relations by other means. Showing how the international system spread through the creative appropriation of European concepts of nation and state by non-Europeans, Bartelson argues that this system has taken on a life of its own, to the point of becoming an empire in its own right.

When and how did the modern world become an international one? Jens Bartelson, a leading scholar of the history of international thought, provides new answers to this question by analyzing how relations between polities have been conceptualized across different historical contexts from the sixteenth century to the present day. A global intellectual history of the international system, this book challenges the widespread assumption that this system emerged as a result of a transition from empires to states, instead proposing that the international realm is but a continuation of imperial relations by other means. Showing how the international system spread through the creative appropriation of European concepts of nation and state by non-Europeans, Bartelson argues that this system has taken on a life of its own, to the point of becoming an empire in its own right.

As scholars and citizens, we are predisposed to think of war as a profoundly destructive activity that ideally should be abolished altogether. Yet before the twentieth century, war was widely understood as a productive force in human affairs that should be harnessed for the purposes of creating peace and order. Analyzing how the concept of war has been used in different contexts from the seventeenth to the late nineteenth century, Jens Bartelson addresses this transition by inquiring into the underlying and often unspoken assumptions about the nature of war, and how these have shaped our understanding of the modern political world and the role of war within it. He explores its functions in the process of state making and in the creation of the modern international system to bring the argument up to date to the present day, where war is now on the centre stage of world politics.

As scholars and citizens, we are predisposed to think of war as a profoundly destructive activity that ideally should be abolished altogether. Yet before the twentieth century, war was widely understood as a productive force in human affairs that should be harnessed for the purposes of creating peace and order. Analyzing how the concept of war has been used in different contexts from the seventeenth to the late nineteenth century, Jens Bartelson addresses this transition by inquiring into the underlying and often unspoken assumptions about the nature of war, and how these have shaped our understanding of the modern political world and the role of war within it. He explores its functions in the process of state making and in the creation of the modern international system to bring the argument up to date to the present day, where war is now on the centre stage of world politics.

Globality, Democracy and Civil Society explores the relationship between the concepts of democracy and civil society through a comparison of their meaning and function in different historical and cultural contexts. This volume presents detailed contextual studies in Europe, North America, Japan, Russia and Turkey. The contributors explore different ways of understanding and developing democratic practices and institutions. Rather than projecting the conditions of modern representative, state-centric democracy onto the global realm, they propose ways of rethinking these very conditions in terms of human diversity and difference. This is done by exploring conceptions of democracy that reconcile cultural plurality with democratic practices, and by using a number of examples and perspectives framed by a global context, rather than by geographical divides between East and West. The contributors are not trying to define the concept of civil society, but rather demonstrating the different ways it is deployed in political practice and disseminated through on-going processes of globalisation.This book will be of interest to scholars and students of global democracy and governance, cosmopolitan democracy, the future of civil society in a globalising world, comparative politics and political thought.