Promises of the political : insurgent cities in a post-political environment / Erik Swyngedouw.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Swyngedouw, E. (Erik), author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Urban ecology (Sociology)--History--21st century.

Urban ecology (Sociology).

Political ecology--History--21st century.

Political ecology.

Populism--History--21st century.

Populism.

Radicalism--History--21st century.

Radicalism.

Political participation--History--21st century.

Political participation.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxii, 209 pages)

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : The MIT Press, 2018

Summary:

The possibility of a new emancipatory and democratizing politics, explored through the lens of recent urban insurgencies . In Promises of the Political , Erik Swyngedouw explores whether progressive and emancipatory politics is still possible in a post-political era. Activists and scholars have developed the concept of post-politicization to describe the process by which "the political" is replaced by techno-managerial governance. If the political domain has been systematically narrowed into a managerial apparatus in which consensual governance prevails, where can we find any possibility of a new democratic politics? Swyngedouw examines this question through the lens of recent urban insurgencies. In Zuccotti Park, Paternoster Square, Taksim Square, Tahrir Square, Hong Kong, and elsewhere, he argues, insurgents have gathered to choreograph new configurations of the democratic. Swyngedouw grounds his argument in urban and ecological processes, struggles, and conflicts through which post-politicization has become institutionally entrenched. He casts "the city" and "nature" as emblematic of the construction of post-democratic modes of governance. He describes the disappearance of the urban polis into the politics of neoliberal planetary urbanization; and he argues that the political-managerial framing of "nature" and the environment contributes to the formation of depoliticized governance -- most notably in the impotent politics of climate change. Finally, he explores the possibilities for a reassertion of the political, considering whether -- after the squares are cleared, the tents folded, and everyday life resumes -- the urban uprisings of the last several years signal a return of the political.

Contents:

Introduction : promises of the political

Part I: Post-democracy : thinking (post-)politicization

The Janus face of governance-beyond-the-state

Interrogating post-democratization : post politicization as techno-mnagerial governance

Theorizing the political difference : "politics" and "the political"

Part II: Practices of post-politicization

Post-politicizing the environment : "ecology as the new opium for the masses"

Hotting up : climate change as post-politicizing populism

Urbanization and environmental futures : politicizing urban political ecologies

Part III: Specters of the political

Insurgent architects, radical cities, and the spectral return of the political

Exploring the idea of emancipatory geographies for the 21st century.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.

ISBN:

0-262-34747-4

OCLC:

1132666141