Reimagining the State: Theoretical Challenges and Transformative possibilities

Cooper, Davina; Dhawan, Nikita and Newman, Janet eds. (2019). Reimagining the State: Theoretical Challenges and Transformative possibilities. Social Justice Series. London: Routledge.

URL: https://www.routledge.com/Reimagining-the-State-Th...

Abstract

This book examines what value, if any, the state has for the pursuit of progressive politics; and how it might need to be rethought or reimagined to deliver transformative change.

Is it possible to reimagine the state in ways that open up projects of political transformation? This interdisciplinary collection provides alternative perspectives to the ‘antistatism’ of much critical writing and contemporary political movement activism. Contributors explore ways of reimagining the state that attend critically to the capitalist, neoliberal, gendered and racist conditions of contemporary polities, yet seek to hold onto the state in the process. Drawing on postcolonial, poststructuralist, feminist, queer, Marxist and anarchist thinking, they consider how states might be reread and reclaimed for radical politics. At the heart of this book is state plasticity – the capacity of the state conceptually and materially to take different forms. This plasticity is central to transformational thinking and practice, and to the conditions and labour that allow it to take place. But what can reimagining do; and what difficulties does it confront?

Viewing alternatives

Look up in Google Scholar
No digital document available to download for this item

Item Actions

Export

About

CORE (COnnecting REpositories)

Recommendations