Empire's New Clothes: Reading Hardt and Negri / Edition 1

by Paul Passavant, Jodi Dean

Overview

The publication of Empire last year created a sensation that spread from academia to the media to cocktail-party buzz. A book that causes such a scholarly commotion comes along only once every decade or so wrote the New York Times , as the book's radical vision of imperial power in the new millennium sparked both histrionic condemnation and serious academic engagement. After September 11 this discussion of Empire's political and legal theories was closely linked with the struggle to redefine America's place in a changed world. The book was read as a diagnosis of our era and a call for liberatory action, while Michael Hardt was acclaimed as the next Jacques Derrida. Framing the debate about this landmark work, The Empire's New Clothes brings together leading scholars to make sense of Empire's new vocabulary and tackle its claims head on. Does the authors' vision accurately describe the power structure of today's world? Do the processes of globalization today represent a fundamental break from the past? Is the book really a communist manifesto for the new age? Empire's New Clothes investigates these and other key issues, giving academics, students, and lay readers a handle on a work that touches the most vital themes of current political, social, and economic life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415935555
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	11/12/2003
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Paul Passavant is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Jodi Dean is Associate Professor of Political Science at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and the author or editor of five books, including Aliens in America: Conspiracy Culture from Outerspace to Cyperspace (1997) and Cultural Studies and Political Theory (2000).

Table of Contents

Introduction: Postmodern Republicanism, Paul A. Passavant Immanence 1. Can Immanence Explain Social Struggles? Ernesto Laclau Transcendence 2. The Immanence of Empire, Peter Fitzpatrick Market 3. On Divine Markets and the Problem of Justice, Bill Maurer Law 4. Legal Imperialism: Empire's Invisible Hand? Ruth Buchanan and Sundhya Pahuja Representation 5. From Empire's Law to the Multitude's Rights: Law, Representation, Revolution, Paul A. Passavant Sovereignty 6. Representing the International: Sovereignty after Modernity? Mark Laffey and Jutta Weldes Global 7. Africa's Ambiguous Relation to Empire and Empire, Kevin C. Dunn Intermezzo: The Theory & Event Interview Sovereignty, Multitudes, Absolute Democracy A Discussion between Michael Hardt and Thomas Dumm Space 8. The Repositioning of Citizenship: Emergent Subjects and Spaces for Politics, Saskia Sassen Place 9. The Irrepressible Lightness of Joy and of Being Green: Empire and Environmentalism, William Chaloupka Migration 10. Smooth Politics, Malcolm Bull Generation 11. Taking the Millennialist Pulse of Empire's Multitude: A Genealogical Feminist Analysis, Lee Quinby Capitalism 12. The Ideology of Empire and Its Traps, Slavoj Zizek Communication 13. The Networked Empire: Communicative Capitalism and the Hope for Politics, Jodi Dean Revolution 14. The Myth of the Multitude, Kam Shapiro Event 15. Representation and the Event, Paul A. Passavant and Jodi Dean Contributors

Editorial Reviews

"An extraordinary set of essays by prominent social and legal theorists-bold, accessible, critical and timely. By highlighting legal processes in Hardt and Negri's model of a new global order, these essays reveal some of the innovations and limitations of their call for revolutionary action by the multitudes." — Eve Darian-Smith, University of California at Berkeley
"Hardt and Negri's magisterial Empire has evoked passionate controversies and debates. The studies collected in this volume critically engage a wide range of themes in Hardt and Negri from the nature of globalization to the environment and the media in Empire. Through intense dialogue and the debate with Hardt and Negri, the articles collected in Empire's New Cloths raise fundamental issues of theory and practice in the contemporary era." — Douglas Kellner, University of California, Los Angeles
"Offers thoughtful and thought-provoking discussions of different facts of Hardt and Negri's argument, ranging from philosophical issues of sovereignty and citizenship to issues in globalization, political protest, gender and the environment...Conceived before September 11th, but produced in its aftermath, the essays also offer stimulating thoughts on the relevance of the theoretical issues discussed to everyday politics, and visa versa." — Arif Dirlik, University of Oregon

From the Publisher