The Politics of Postanarchism

by Saul Newman

What is the relevance of anarchist thought for politics and political theory today? While many have dismissed anarchism in the past, Saul Newman contends that anarchism's heretical critique of authority, and its insistence on full equality and liberty, places it at the forefront of the radical political imagination today. With the unprecedented expansion of state power in the name of security, the current 'crisis of capitalism' and the terminal decline of Marxist and social democratic projects, it is time to reconsider anarchism as a form of politics. This book seeks to renew anarchist thought through the concept of postanarchism.

Genres: Politics, Philosophy, Anarchism, Nonfiction

208 pages, Hardcover

First published March 24, 2010

About the author

Newman coined the term "post-anarchism" as a general term for political philosophies filtering 19th century anarchism through a post-structuralist lens, and later popularized it through his 2001 book From Bakunin to Lacan. Thus he rejects a number of concepts traditionally associated with anarchism, including essentialism, a "positive" human nature, and the concept of revolution. The links between poststructuralism and anarchism have also been developed by thinkers like Todd May and Lewis Call.
Newman is currently Reader in Political Theory at Goldsmiths College, University of London. He received his B.A. from the University of Sydney, and his Ph.D in political science from the University of New South Wales. His work has been translated into Turkish, Spanish, Italian, German, Portuguese and Serbo-Croatian, and has been the subject of a number of debates amongst anarchist theorists and activists as well as academics.[I]

Reviews

[Corey]

Literally just found out, via the internet, that "postanarchism" is a thing. I've always wondered about the inevitable conflict between traditional anarchism and post-structuralism--can't wait to see what "happens."

[for-much-deliberation ... · Rating 4 out of 5]

Political theorist and anarchist thinker Saul Newman expresses views on the influence of anarchist thought on politics considering elements of authority, state affairs, globalisation, equality and liberty and also considering the future direction of radical politics.

Introduction to the "Politics of Postanarchism", "In recent years radical politics has been faced with a number of new challenges, not least of which has been the reemergence of the aggressive, authoritarian state in its new paradigm of security and bio-politics. The ‘war on terror’serves as the latest guise for the aggressive reassertion of the principle state sovereignty, beyond the traditional limits imposed on it by legal institutions or democratic polities. Coupled with this has been the hegemony of neo-liberal projects of capitalist globalization, as well as the ideological obscurantism of the so-called Third Way. The profound disillusionment in the wake of the collapse of Communist systems nearly two decades ago has resulted in a political and theoretical vacuum for the radical Left, which has generally been ineffective in countering the rise of the Far Right in Europe, as well as a more insidious ‘creeping conservatism’ whose dark ideological implications we are only just beginning to see unfold."

Can be read online here: http://theanarchistlibrary.org/librar...

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Supports my bias that Stirner/Chomsky/Foucault fusion is best praxis but doesn't really give any meaningful explanation of what the trialectic might produce

[Michael Dunn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very compelling stuff that manages to explain its beliefs in a well constructed manner.