The Future of Political Community

by Baker; Gideon

• ISBN13: 9780415468206
• ISBN10: 0415468205
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-09-24
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

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 #xE2;#xAC;#xDC;beyond#xE2;#xAC;" 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 #xE2;#xAC;#xDC;beyond#xE2;#xAC;" 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.

Table of Contents

Contributors	p. xi
Series Editor's preface	p. xiii
Acknowledgements	p. xv
Introduction: The future of political community	p. 1
Assumptions of political community: progress, democracy and boundaries in question	p. 13
Dream or nightmare? Thinking the future of world politics	p. 15
Globalising the democratic community	p. 36
The politics of hospitality: sovereignty and ethics in political community	p. 51
Political community and the postmodern	p. 71
What future for the European political community?Nietzsche, nationalism and the idea of the 'good Europeans'	p. 73
Constituting community: Heidegger, mimesis and critical belonging	p. 90
The limits of post-territorial political community: from the cosmopolitan politics of global civil society to the biopolitics of the multitude	p. 112
Learning from the past and understanding future transformations	p. 127
Rethinking political community from neglected places	p. 129
Homer, Virgil and identity in international relations	p. 144
Political community formation beyond the nation-state	p. 175
Epilogue: Community rethought	p. 204
Index	p. 208
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