Politics of Fear, Practices of Hope

by Stefan Skrimshire

Overview

Politics of Fear, Practices of Hope is about the relationship between two hugely influential ideas in political life: fear and hope. How are cultures of resistance nurtured within an environment of paranoia and social paralysis? Stefan Skrimshire argues that grass-roots responses to a politics of fear coincide with an explosion of interest in the quasi-religious themes of apocalypse, eschatology and utopia in cultural life. Where visions of a better future are replaced by the acceptance of a fearful present - a state of ‘war with no end’ - this is an important examination of the beliefs that underpin our capacity to hope.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781441154149
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	01/05/2012
Series:	Continuum Studies in Religion and Political Culture , #2
Pages:	230
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.48(d)

About the Author

Stefan Skrimshire is a postdoctoral research associate in philosophy of religion at The University of Manchester, UK.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1: Introduction

Part 1 Politics of Fantasy

Chapter 2: Post-Democracy and the War on Terror

Chapter 3: From Fear to Desire

Chapter 4: Accidents Waiting to Happen

Part 2 Politics of Imagination

Chapter 5: Utopia: Radical Imagination

Chapter 6: Eschatology: Radical Waiting

Chapter 7: Apocalypse: Radical Seeing

Part 3 Experiments in Hope

Chapter 8: The Performance of Dissent

Chapter 9: How to be Common

Chapter 10: Bodies of Resistance

Chapter 11: Conclusion

Bibliography