Manchester University Press
5 Time for democracy
Abstract
This chapter focuses on two alternative diagnoses of the time of contemporary world politics: firstly, arguments that suggest the end of the Cold War marks a stage on the way to the transformation of international political community towards a cosmopolitan world order; secondly, Hardt's and Negri's post-Marxist thesis of empire and counter-empire. It examines Habermas's reinterpretation of Kant's idea of perpetual peace, and a range of arguments about post-Westphalian world politics as a time in which some version of cosmopolitanism may become possible globally at elite or grassroots levels. It explores an account of the de-centring of political authority away from its locus in the state in the globalisation of bio-power, and the resistance that this creates in the process. It also evaluates the resources offered by these theories for analysing and judging the present, and the ways in which those resources depend on temporal assumptions.
Abstract
This chapter focuses on two alternative diagnoses of the time of contemporary world politics: firstly, arguments that suggest the end of the Cold War marks a stage on the way to the transformation of international political community towards a cosmopolitan world order; secondly, Hardt's and Negri's post-Marxist thesis of empire and counter-empire. It examines Habermas's reinterpretation of Kant's idea of perpetual peace, and a range of arguments about post-Westphalian world politics as a time in which some version of cosmopolitanism may become possible globally at elite or grassroots levels. It explores an account of the de-centring of political authority away from its locus in the state in the globalisation of bio-power, and the resistance that this creates in the process. It also evaluates the resources offered by these theories for analysing and judging the present, and the ways in which those resources depend on temporal assumptions.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- Dedication viii
-
Part I Theories of World-Political Time
- 1 Introduction to the question of world-political time 3
- 2 From fortune to history 28
- 3 Against historicism 54
-
Part II Diagnosing the Times
- 4 Prophecies and predictions 81
- 5 Time for democracy 106
- 6 Apocalyptic times 130
- 7 Thinking the present 154
- Bibliography 178
- Index 193
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- Dedication viii
-
Part I Theories of World-Political Time
- 1 Introduction to the question of world-political time 3
- 2 From fortune to history 28
- 3 Against historicism 54
-
Part II Diagnosing the Times
- 4 Prophecies and predictions 81
- 5 Time for democracy 106
- 6 Apocalyptic times 130
- 7 Thinking the present 154
- Bibliography 178
- Index 193
