The Politics of Intimacy: Rethinking the End-of-Life Controversy (Configurations: Critical Studies of World Politics)

Anna Durnová

ISBN 10: 0472130897 / ISBN 13: 9780472130894

Published by University of Michigan Press, 2018

About this Item

Hardcover, xv + 285 pages, NOT ex-library. Book is clean and bright throughout, with unmarked text, free of inscriptions and stamps, firmly bound. Light handling wear only. Issued without a dust jacket. -- This study offers a novel framework for understanding public debates surrounding euthanasia and assisted dying. The author argues that these controversies are not merely clashes of abstract principles like autonomy versus sanctity of life, but are profoundly shaped by personal narratives of suffering, care, and dignity. Drawing on case studies from Austria, the Netherlands, and Oregon, the book analyzes how these intimate, emotional dimensions are articulated and mobilized in the public sphere. It demonstrates how policymakers, activists, and citizens grapple with these deeply personal stories, ultimately shaping the legal and ethical boundaries of end-of-life decisions.

Seller Inventory # 011834

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Politics of Intimacy: Rethinking the End-of-Life Controversy (Configurations: Critical Studies of World Politics)
• Publisher: University of Michigan Press
• Publication Date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0472130897
• ISBN 13: 9780472130894
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Near Fine

About this title

Synopsis

Debates on the end-of-life controversy are complex because they seem to highjack national and cultural traditions. Where previous books have focused on ideological grounds, The Politics of Intimacy explores dying as the site where policies are negotiated and implemented. Intimacy comprises the emotional experience of the end of life and how we acknowledge it—or not—through institutions. This process shows that end-of-life controversy relies on the conflict between the individual and these institutions, a relationship that is the cornerstone of Western liberal democracies.

Through interviews with mourners, stakeholders, and medical professionals, examination of media debates in France and the Czech Republic, Durnová shows that liberal institutions, in their attempts to accommodate the emotional experience at the end of life, ultimately fail. She describes this deadlock as the “politics of intimacy,” revealing that political institutions deploy power through collective acknowledgment of individual emotions but fail to maintain this recognition because of this same experience.

About the Author

Anna Durnová is Senior Researcher in Techno-Science and Societal Transformation at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Vienna and Faculty Fellow of Yale University's Center for Cultural Sociology.