The Politics of Postanarchism - Hardcover

Newman, Saul

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0748634959 ISBN 13: 9780748634958

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press, 2010

Synopsis

What is the relevance of anarchist thought for politics and political theory today? While many have dismissed anarchism in the past, Saul Newman contends that anarchism's heretical critique of authority, and its insistence on full equality and liberty, places it at the forefront of the radical political imagination today. With the unprecedented expansion of state power in the name of security, the current 'crisis of capitalism' and the terminal decline of Marxist and social democratic projects, it is time to reconsider anarchism as a form of politics. This book seeks to renew anarchist thought through the concept of postanarchism.

About this title

About the Author:

Saul Newman is Professor at the Goldsmiths, University of London

Review:

Newman engages such thinkers as Foucault, Badiou, and Rancière alongside classical and contemporary anarchist thought as well as struggles such as the anti-globalization movement. The Politics of Postanarchism offers a compelling framework for progressive political thought and intervention.

(Todd May, Clemson University)

In this book, Saul Newman announces postanarchism as a lively, vital and highly pertinent perspective for our times. With a brilliant grasp of the anarchist tradition, of continental theory and the political challenges of the contemporary world, Newman unpacks the meaning and relevance of postanarchism to readers at all levels of experience. That he manages to do so in a readable and confident style, pays testimony to his own growing reputation as a highly original thinker with a great deal to offer us in terms of showing the link between political theory and political practice. Highly recommended.

(Simon Tormey, University of Sydney)

The most significant development in anarchist theory in recent years has rested upon, in a sense, a rejection of anarchism's past ... Newman's attempt to salvage the "ultimate horizon for radical politics" offered by anarchism, from its reliance on dubious "immutable natural laws and processes, whose truth would be revealed through science", leads to a significant commentary on the historical tradition ... [His] interrogation of anarchism's past raises important questions, and casts probing light on the giants of the tradition: Bakunin and Kropotkin in particular.

(Matthew S. Adams European Review of History)

About this edition

• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0748634959
• ISBN 13: 9780748634958
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208