Frontiers of the Political: Doing International Politics – serie

Winner of the 2019 Edgar S. Furniss Book Award from the Mershon Center for International SecurityHow do people make sense of distant but disturbing international events? Why are some representations more appealing than others? What do they mean for the perceiver’s own sense of self? Going beyond conventional analysis of political perception and imagining at the level of accuracy, this book reveals how self-conceptions are unconsciously, but centrally present in our judgments and representations of international crises.Combining international relations and psychosocial studies, Dmitry Chernobrov shows how the imagining of international politics is shaped by the need for positive and continuous societal self-concepts. The book captures evidence of self-affirming political imagining in how the general public in the West and in Russia understood the Arab uprisings (also known as the Arab Spring) and makes an argument both about and beyond this particular case. The book will appeal to those interested in international crises, political psychology, media and audiences, perception and political imagining, ontological security, identity and emotion, and collective memory.

This book examines how citizen art practices perform new kinds of politics, as distinct from normative (status, participatory and cosmopolitan) models. It contends that at a time in which the conditions of citizenship have been radically altered (e.g., by the increased securitization and individuation of bodies and so forth), there is an urgent drive for citizen art to be enacted as a tool for assessing the “hollowed out” conditions of citizenship. Citizen art, it shows, stands apart from other forms of art by performing acts of citizenship that reveal and transgress the limitations of state-centred citizenship regimes, whilst simultaneously enacting genuinely alternative modes of (non-statist) citizenship. This book offers a new formulation of citizen art—one that is interrogated on both critical and material levels, and as such, remodels the foundations on which citizenship is conceived, performed and instituted.

This book examines how citizen art practices perform new kinds of politics, as distinct from normative (status, participatory and cosmopolitan) models. It contends that at a time in which the conditions of citizenship have been radically altered (e.g., by the increased securitization and individuation of bodies and so forth), there is an urgent drive for citizen art to be enacted as a tool for assessing the “hollowed out” conditions of citizenship. Citizen art, it shows, stands apart from other forms of art by performing acts of citizenship that reveal and transgress the limitations of state-centred citizenship regimes, whilst simultaneously enacting genuinely alternative modes of (non-statist) citizenship. This book offers a new formulation of citizen art—one that is interrogated on both critical and material levels, and as such, remodels the foundations on which citizenship is conceived, performed and instituted.

This book investigates politics of denaturalisation as a system of thought that influences seminal cultural political values, such as community, nationality, citizenship, selfhood and otherness. The context of the analysis is the politics of citizenship and nationality in France. Combining research insights from history, legal studies, security studies, and border studies, the book demonstrates that the language of denaturalisation shapes national identity as a form of formal legal attachment but also, and more counter-intuitively, as a mode of emotional belonging. As such, denaturalisation operates as an instrumental frame to maintain and secure the national community. Going back to eighteenth-century France and to both World Wars, periods during which governments deployed denaturalisation as a technology against “threatening” subjects, the analysis exposes how the language of denaturalisation interweaves concerns about immigration and national security. It is this historical backdrop that helps understand the political impact of denaturalisation in contemporary counterterrorism politics, and what is at stake when borders and identities become affective technologies.

Engaging Authority: Citizenship and Political Community aims to explore how authority is entailed in different versions of citizenship and political community. Who or what claims authority in the name of “a people,” and to what effect? What kind and scope of authority is claimed? And who is held to be part of such a people”? Engaging Authority brings together scholars from anthropology, constitutional studies, cultural studies, politics, political theory, sociology, and philosophy in a collaborative project to develop a multifaceted understanding of citizenship in political community. The volume begins with the premise that to describe or identify oneself as a citizen entails a particular relationship to authority. Citizens are understood to be members of a community which we consider “political” in that members are invoked, and may also be involved, in the business of governing. How does this relationship function? How is community invoked by those exercising authority, and in what senses do citizens partake in its exercise? In this volume, the authors explore different forms of the citizen’s relationship to authority in political community, across and beyond the variations that usually concern scholars, such as the self-governing people, nation-states, popular sovereignty, and democratic citizenship.

Is the notion of postcolonial Europe an oxymoron? How do colonial pasts inform the emergence of new subjectivities and political frontiers in contemporary Europe? Postcolonial Transitions in Europe explores these questions from different theoretical, geopolitical and media perspectives. Drawing from the interdisciplinary tools of postcolonial critique, this book contests the idea that Europe developed within clear-cut geographical boundaries. It examines how experiences of colonialism and imperialism continue to be constitutive of the European space and of the very idea of Europe. By approaching Europe as a complex political space, the chapters investigate topical concerns around its politics of inclusion and exclusion towards migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, as well as its take on internal conflicts, transitions and cosmopolitan imaginaries. With a foreword by Paul Gilroy

Is the notion of postcolonial Europe an oxymoron? How do colonial pasts inform the emergence of new subjectivities and political frontiers in contemporary Europe? Postcolonial Transitions in Europe explores these questions from different theoretical, geopolitical and media perspectives. Drawing from the interdisciplinary tools of postcolonial critique, this book contests the idea that Europe developed within clear-cut geographical boundaries. It examines how experiences of colonialism and imperialism continue to be constitutive of the European space and of the very idea of Europe. By approaching Europe as a complex political space, the chapters investigate topical concerns around its politics of inclusion and exclusion towards migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, as well as its take on internal conflicts, transitions and cosmopolitan imaginaries. With a foreword by Paul Gilroy

From discussions on democracy, to attempts to widen the scope of citizenship beyond the confines of the nation-state, Western thinking of the political community has continued to assume a unifying principle of sameness, reflected in history, space, language, or reason, as the condition of possibility of the community. The author assesses how, despite attempts to broaden the scope for inclusion and the meaning of political existence, contemporary political theory gives rise to new externalities through relying on a notion of the community as predicated on sameness. Proceeding normatively and hermeneutically, The Question of Political Community seeks to divert the thinking of political community from assumptions of calculability, unity, and boundedness by elaborating a notion of sameness that does not presuppose difference and a notion of difference that does not presuppose identity. Through close engagements with texts in contemporary political theory and continental philosophy, it is argued that in order to confront the problem of closure and exclusion, the question of political co-existence needs to be reformulated and relocated so as to grasp the meaning of an incalculable community.

From discussions on democracy, to attempts to widen the scope of citizenship beyond the confines of the nation-state, Western thinking of the political community has continued to assume a unifying principle of sameness, reflected in history, space, language, or reason, as the condition of possibility of the community. The author assesses how, despite attempts to broaden the scope for inclusion and the meaning of political existence, contemporary political theory gives rise to new externalities through relying on a notion of the community as predicated on sameness. Proceeding normatively and hermeneutically, The Question of Political Community seeks to divert the thinking of political community from assumptions of calculability, unity, and boundedness by elaborating a notion of sameness that does not presuppose difference and a notion of difference that does not presuppose identity. Through close engagements with texts in contemporary political theory and continental philosophy, it is argued that in order to confront the problem of closure and exclusion, the question of political co-existence needs to be reformulated and relocated so as to grasp the meaning of an incalculable community.

Contemporary citizenship is haunted by the ghost of imperialism. Yet conceptions of European citizenship fail to explain issues that are inclusive of the impact of empire today, and are integral to the reality of citizenship; from the notion of ‘minorities’ to the assertion of citizenship rights by migrants and the withdrawal of fundamental rights from particular groups.The Uses of Imperial Citizenship examines the ways in which ideas of citizenship and subjecthood were applied in societies under imperial rule in order to expand our understanding of these concepts. Taking examples from the experience of the British and French empires, the book examines the ways in which claims to the rights and obligations of imperial subjects by otherwise marginalised people – from women activists to ‘native’ newspaper editors – shaped the history of British and French concepts of citizenship. Through extensive analysis of colonial and diplomatic archives, parliamentary debates and commissions, journalism and contemporary works on colonial administration, the book explores how governments and people in colonial societies saw themselves within, on the frontiers of, and outside of imperial notions of citizenship and subjecthood.

Contemporary citizenship is haunted by the ghost of imperialism. Yet conceptions of European citizenship fail to explain issues that are inclusive of the impact of empire today, and are integral to the reality of citizenship; from the notion of ‘minorities’ to the assertion of citizenship rights by migrants and the withdrawal of fundamental rights from particular groups.The Uses of Imperial Citizenship examines the ways in which ideas of citizenship and subjecthood were applied in societies under imperial rule in order to expand our understanding of these concepts. Taking examples from the experience of the British and French empires, the book examines the ways in which claims to the rights and obligations of imperial subjects by otherwise marginalised people – from women activists to ‘native’ newspaper editors – shaped the history of British and French concepts of citizenship. Through extensive analysis of colonial and diplomatic archives, parliamentary debates and commissions, journalism and contemporary works on colonial administration, the book explores how governments and people in colonial societies saw themselves within, on the frontiers of, and outside of imperial notions of citizenship and subjecthood.

Citizen Journalism as Conceptual Practice provides a conceptualization of citizen journalism as a political practice developed through analyses of an historical and postcolonial case. Arguing that citizen journalism is first and foremost situated, embodied and political rather than networked and technology-based, the book offers a grounded analysis of the colonial newspaper, The Herald, published in St. Croix (Virgin Islands) 1915-25 by a descendant of enslaved people and independently of the colonial ruler, Denmark. The analysis is informed by Deleuze and Guattari’s approach to knowledge production and formulates a critical reading of citizens’ and subjects’ mediated political engagements then as well as now. The book discusses current approaches to citizen journalism before turning to The Herald, which is then read against the grain in an attempt to show the embodied politics of colonial history and cultural forms of citizen engagement as these politics evolve in this particular case of journalism

Citizen Journalism as Conceptual Practice provides a conceptualization of citizen journalism as a political practice developed through analyses of an historical and postcolonial case. Arguing that citizen journalism is first and foremost situated, embodied and political rather than networked and technology-based, the book offers a grounded analysis of the colonial newspaper, The Herald, published in St. Croix (Virgin Islands) 1915-25 by a descendant of enslaved people and independently of the colonial ruler, Denmark. The analysis is informed by Deleuze and Guattari’s approach to knowledge production and formulates a critical reading of citizens’ and subjects’ mediated political engagements then as well as now. The book discusses current approaches to citizen journalism before turning to The Herald, which is then read against the grain in an attempt to show the embodied politics of colonial history and cultural forms of citizen engagement as these politics evolve in this particular case of journalism

Postcolonial intellectuals have engaged with and deeply impacted upon European society since the figure of the intellectual emerged at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Yet a critical assessment and overview of their influential roles is long overdue, particularly in the light of contemporary debates in Europe and beyond.This book offers an innovative take on the role of intellectuals in Europe through a postcolonial lens and, in doing so, questions the very definition of "public intellectual," on the one hand, and the meaning of such a thing as "Europe," on the other. It does so not only by offering portraits of charismatic figures such as Stuart Hall, Jacques Derrida, Antonio Gramsci, Frantz Fanon, and Hannah Arendt, among others, but also by exploring their lasting legacies and the many dialogues they have generated. The notion of the ‘classic’ intellectual is further challenged by bringing to the fore artists, writers, and activists, as well as social movements, networks, and new forms of mobilization and collective engagement that are part of the intellectual scene.

Postcolonial intellectuals have engaged with and deeply impacted upon European society since the figure of the intellectual emerged at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Yet a critical assessment and overview of their influential roles is long overdue, particularly in the light of contemporary debates in Europe and beyond.This book offers an innovative take on the role of intellectuals in Europe through a postcolonial lens and, in doing so, questions the very definition of "public intellectual," on the one hand, and the meaning of such a thing as "Europe," on the other. It does so not only by offering portraits of charismatic figures such as Stuart Hall, Jacques Derrida, Antonio Gramsci, Frantz Fanon, and Hannah Arendt, among others, but also by exploring their lasting legacies and the many dialogues they have generated. The notion of the ‘classic’ intellectual is further challenged by bringing to the fore artists, writers, and activists, as well as social movements, networks, and new forms of mobilization and collective engagement that are part of the intellectual scene.

This book explores the ways in which individuals and groups negotiate the meaning and rights associated with their citizenship or lack thereof within the context of diverse interpretations of "place." Place might be a specific location as in the place where a person is able to work, or live, or it may be more metaphorical, as in the spaces created to organize protest online. Place may even be defined by its absence or distance, as is the case with refugees and stateless individuals.Chapters in the first half of the book examine citizenship and place within the city. The second half examines citizenship and place beyond the city, beyond the nation, and in the case of statelessness, even beyond citizenship. The volume ends with a chapter that asserts that all citizenship is local. Citizenship, when examined from the ground up within the context of place, can capture conflicts and negotiations around belonging and rights that include those who are refugees, those who are stateless, and those whose very presence and demand for rights defy normative or state-driven definitions of who has the right to claim rights based on citizenship. This book seeks to help the reader push traditional boundaries and critically examine notions of citizenship in these spaces.

This book explores the ways in which individuals and groups negotiate the meaning and rights associated with their citizenship or lack thereof within the context of diverse interpretations of "place." Place might be a specific location as in the place where a person is able to work, or live, or it may be more metaphorical, as in the spaces created to organize protest online. Place may even be defined by its absence or distance, as is the case with refugees and stateless individuals.Chapters in the first half of the book examine citizenship and place within the city. The second half examines citizenship and place beyond the city, beyond the nation, and in the case of statelessness, even beyond citizenship. The volume ends with a chapter that asserts that all citizenship is local. Citizenship, when examined from the ground up within the context of place, can capture conflicts and negotiations around belonging and rights that include those who are refugees, those who are stateless, and those whose very presence and demand for rights defy normative or state-driven definitions of who has the right to claim rights based on citizenship. This book seeks to help the reader push traditional boundaries and critically examine notions of citizenship in these spaces.

This book investigates politics of denaturalisation as a system of thought that influences seminal cultural political values, such as community, nationality, citizenship, selfhood and otherness. The context of the analysis is the politics of citizenship and nationality in France. Combining research insights from history, legal studies, security studies, and border studies, the book demonstrates that the language of denaturalisation shapes national identity as a form of formal legal attachment but also, and more counter-intuitively, as a mode of emotional belonging. As such, denaturalisation operates as an instrumental frame to maintain and secure the national community. Going back to eighteenth-century France and to both World Wars, periods during which governments deployed denaturalisation as a technology against “threatening” subjects, the analysis exposes how the language of denaturalisation interweaves concerns about immigration and national security. It is this historical backdrop that helps understand the political impact of denaturalisation in contemporary counterterrorism politics, and what is at stake when borders and identities become affective technologies.

Winner of the 2019 Edgar S. Furniss Book Award from the Mershon Center for International SecurityHow do people make sense of distant but disturbing international events? Why are some representations more appealing than others? What do they mean for the perceiver’s own sense of self? Going beyond conventional analysis of political perception and imagining at the level of accuracy, this book reveals how self-conceptions are unconsciously, but centrally present in our judgments and representations of international crises.Combining international relations and psychosocial studies, Dmitry Chernobrov shows how the imagining of international politics is shaped by the need for positive and continuous societal self-concepts. The book captures evidence of self-affirming political imagining in how the general public in the West and in Russia understood the Arab uprisings (also known as the Arab Spring) and makes an argument both about and beyond this particular case. The book will appeal to those interested in international crises, political psychology, media and audiences, perception and political imagining, ontological security, identity and emotion, and collective memory.

Contemporary Europe – ridden by social, political and economic crises, overlaid onto colonial and imperial trajectories, and shaken by the shockwaves generated by Brexit and wide scale human displacement – has become a space in which citizenship and belonging are contested, disrupted, performed and produced anew.Art, Migration, and the Production of Radical Democratic Citizenshipexplores the contribution of migrant and refugee artists to the performance and production of radical democratic citizenship in Europe. It foregrounds the insights of artists and cultural actors with diverse experiences of migration and displacement to fractious public debates about citizenship and belonging. It explores how migrant and refugee artists have audaciously inserted themselves into, and are pushing the boundaries of these debates, challenging and unhinging dominant interpretations of the parameters of European citizenship and belonging. Part I of this edited volume is comprised of a series of short provocations by artists spanning and intermixing a range of art forms and methodologies including live art, visual art and public installation, community and site-specific durational work, or the combination of writing, auto-ethnography and media activism. The second Part comprises longer, more sustained engagements by visual and live art practitioners, dramaturges, curators and academics. These chapters focus on performative, participatory, auto-biographical and auto-ethnographic artistic processes and practices.Art, Migration, and the Production of Radical Democratic Citizenship highlights the critical interventions by artists who have experienced firsthand the everyday realities of displacement, focusing on how their diverse practices offer incisive challenges to existing regimes of citizenship and democracy.